Celebrating Emancipation Day
Emancipation Day celebrations were an important part of Black culture during the early 20th century.
"We owe it to our ancestors to appreciate the enslaved people of Florida to carry on the legacy and to live on through them from the heritage they left for us," said Vivian Filer, a longtime community activist, beloved storyteller and one of the remaining matriarchs of the Black community in Gainesville as she spoke on Friday during a Florida Emancipation Day celebration held at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center in southeast Gainesville.
On May 20,1865, Union Brigadier Gen. Edward M. McCook formally announced President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee, the capital of the state of Florida.
A month later on June 19, Union Gen. Gordon Granger announced the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas. After the news, Black communities widely recognized that day as Juneteenth as all enslaved Africans in America were finally free two years after Lincoln had signed the historic proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.
The Cotton Club is collaborating with other Florida museums to highlight the significance of May 20 with the help of the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network.
"All over the state we're all pushing to get May 20 remembered," Filer said. "This is a day of pride and commemoration and our goal one day is to have a parade to make it big."
Deloris Rentz, financial secretary, historian and event organizer for the Cotton Club, welcomed the audience.
"It is my wish and hope that you will be inspired, educated and entertained," Rentz said.
The celebration also included a drumming performance by Kofi Horne.
"The drums are telling us to listen and to pay attention," Horne said. "Our history and our culture is embedded in everything. There are three parts to the drum: the mind, the body and the spirit. As a drummer, you are playing the heartbeat of the community."
Rentz also talked about the importance of the drum and said that slaveowners prohibited the use of drums by slaves because they (slaveowners) knew it was a way for slaves to communicate with each other.
Florida's emancipation in past years was celebrated with parades and picnics where large numbers of people gathered to enjoy fellowshipping with one another and schools would be closed in honor of the day, Rentz said.
May 20 also gives people an opportunity to remember the fallen soldiers who fought in the Civil War, Rentz said.
"It is a time African American soldiers who served in the Civil War were honored," Rentz said. "People would come to the cemetery where the soldiers were buried and place flowers on the graves."
About 12 members in the audience were given a rose and asked to place each rose in a vase on stage in remembrance of the fallen soldiers.
Felicia Walton recited Sojourner Truth's poem titled "Ain't I A Woman?" and Bridgette Hogan gave a spoken word performance.
Hogan said Filer is her godmother and a mentor when it comes to storytelling and poetry.
"She gave me the gift of poetry," Hogan said. "It is wonderful to be here especially on this occasion. Poets are the speakers of the streets. Poetry gave people the voice to share the struggle."
Final remarks were given by Rentz.
"Think about who came before us and how they had faith in God," Rentz said. "They struggled and persevered and so can we."
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Celebrating Florida Emancipation Day at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center
