Celebrate Juneteenth in St. Augustine with music, history and more
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St. Augustine will celebrate Juneteenth this weekend with musical performances, a speech by a civil rights activist and the opportunity to view a piece of civil rights history.
Juneteenth, which became officially recognized last year by President Joe Biden, is Sunday, June 19.
The holiday commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation in the U.S.
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President Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation to free enslaved African Americans in secessionist states on Jan. 1, 1863, but enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, would not learn of their freedom until two years later.
On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger informed the community of Galveston of Lincoln's proclamation. Though it was issued years prior, enslavers were held responsible for telling the enslaved they were free, and some ignored the directive. Maj. Gen. Gordon demanded Galveston locals comply with the proclamation.
The St. Augustine City Commission issued a proclamation on Monday honoring the holiday. Mayor Tracy Upchurch read the proclamation and presented it to Gayle and Floyd Phillips, who lead Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, an African-American history museum in St. Augustine.
"St. Augustine has a recorded history of emancipation parades and celebrations dating back to 1863 and is proud to have the opportunity to honor the principles of the Declaration of Independence and celebrate the achievements and contributions African Americans have made and continue to make in this city and across our nation," Upchurch said as he read the proclamation.
Texas was the last Confederate state where the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, and the first to recognize the date of June 19 – Juneteenth – statewide. The inaugural Juneteenth to commemorate the official day enslaved people in Galveston were freed began in 1866. The holiday, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, spread across the country as African Americans migrated away from the South.
It is a lesser-known fact that the Emancipation Proclamation did not result in all enslaved African Americans being freed. Juneteenth is part of recognizing the conditions underwent by some unknowingly liberated by law. The proclamation, moreover, guaranteed freedom to enslaved people in secessionist states like Texas, but not Union states like Maryland, which did not secede during the Civil War. The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, freed all enslaved people in the country.
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Things to do
The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center at 102 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in St. Augustine will host a dedication and ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. on Saturday for the latest piece in the museum's civil rights collection: Part of a lunch counter that was the site of sit-in protests at Woolworth's in St. Augustine during the civil rights movement, according to a news release. That event is free and open to the public.
"It's actually old to our city but new to us," Gayle Phillips said of the item.
After that, the museum will have a ticketed luncheon featuring civil rights activist J.T. Johnson from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Casa Monica Resort and Spa at 95 Cordova St. in St. Augustine. Tickets, which can be purchased on eventbrite.com, are $150 per person, and the proceeds will help the museum buy equipment and furnishings for the museum's newly-renovated education and performance spaces, according to a news release from the museum. For information, visit lincolnvillemuseum.org.
Johnson joined the movement in 1963 and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, according the museum.
"(Johnson is) one of the protesters that jumped into a whites-only pool at the Monson Motor Lodge in St. Augustine," according to the release. "In an attempt to force Black swimmers out, the owner of the hotel poured acid into the pool. The protest became a rallying cry to end a filibuster and vote to approve the Civil Rights Bill of 1964."
On Saturday and Sunday, the St. Augustine Music Festival will have two free events in St. Augustine in honor of Juneteenth. Pianist Terrence Wilson is scheduled to perform at both events, among other musicians.
"Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as 'one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years,' pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, D.C., (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra," according to his biography.
On Saturday the performance takes place at 2:30 p.m. at the New Saint James Missionary Baptist Church at 135 N. Rodriquez St. in St. Augustine. Seating is first-come, first-served. Tickets aren't required.
Sunday's performance begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Cathedral Basilica at 38 Cathedral Place in St. Augustine. To make a free reservation or for information, visit staugustinemusicfestival.org.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Augustine will celebrate Juneteenth with music, history and more
