At least 200 people turned out to observe Juneteenth at a community festival Saturday in Whittington Park.
While enjoying games, food and other activities, they also celebrated what evidently was the first large, communitywide Juneteenth event held in Greenwood in living memory, according to numerous residents.
Festival attendees, of course, got a chance to learn more about the signficance of Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of African Americans from slavery. The date, June 19, became a federal holiday last week.
The daylong festival began at noon and concluded around 9 p.m. with a kickball game. In between, there was live music, a pop-up shop for local vendors and a Greek stroll off as well as a Juneteenth showcase, during which local residents spoke about the importance of the holiday.
“Today, I look every race in the face because I know I’m more than enough,” Jaylin Smith said while reciting her poem, “Happy Juneteenth.” “Today, I see blue lights, and I refuse to scatter. Today, I tell anybody and their momma that Black lives matter. Today, I’m Blacker than normal. Today, my Black is informal. Today it’s July 4th for negroes.”
Da’marrion Thompson, center, performs a rap during Saturday’s Juneteenth festival. (By Gerard Edic)
Da’marrion Thompson, a Sunflower County Freedom Project fellow, spoke in a rap, saying to “picture me equal.”
“Do you remember back in slavery times? Black people couldn’t even make a dime,” Thompson’s rap continued.
Juneteenth — a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth” — commemorates the date June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought news to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, that they were free. That date was two months after the Confederacy had surrendered to the Union during the Civil War and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves throughout the South.
President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday.
“It’s just a celebration of our culture,” said Greenwood resident Yolandria Rucker, who was enjoying herself with friends while seated underneath a tent at the festival.
Arika Swims holds up a Black Lives Matter fist during the Juneteenth gathering. (By Gerard Edic)
To her recollection, Saturday’s Juneteenth festival was the first mass celebration of the holiday held in Greenwood.
“I’m glad that it is a federal holiday. That means it’s known nationally,” said Arika Swims, another Greenwood resident, who added that Saturday’s event was the first large-scale celebration of Juneteenth in the community.
Friends, from left, Tya Polk, Jillian Travillion and Quetta Jackson enjoy themselves during Saturday’s Juneteenth festival. (By Gerard Edic)
Members of Thee G.O.O.D. Fellas, who organized Saturday’s Juneteenth Festival at Whittington Park, said they were pleased with the reception and support from the community. From left are Jordan Freeman, Kamron Daniels and Kenneth Milton Jr. (By Gerard Edic)
The festival was organized by a trio of Greenwood natives — Kamron Daniels, Kenneth Milton Jr. and Jordan Freeman — through their company, Thee G.O.O.D. Fellas.
“I think we had a really great turnout, and I was very happy to see how much community support we had,” Daniels said after the festival.
“Because this event went so well, we’re going to try and make this an annual thing, and our goal is also to keep pushing for this.”
Freeman said that people “were proud of us for doing positive things in the community since there’s a lot of negativity going on right now.”
“Saturday was everything that we planned for it to be. We had a good mix of people in the crowd, from old to young,” Milton said. “It was just overall a great experience.”
Like Daniels, both Freeman and Milton said that another Juneteenth festival will be planned for next year.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
