‘Encouragement and hope’: How the Myrtle Beach area is celebrating Juneteenth in 2021

After a year of nationwide protests against racial injustice, Black Horry County residents are making plans to celebrate freedom on June 19, a day that has been recently recognized as a national holiday.

Juneteenth, the commemoration of the day the last enslaved people were freed, has gained more attention this year. Also called “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day,” the holiday celebrates June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas found out they were free.

That day marked more than two years since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law.The order freed slaves in the southern states.

Many groups in the county are planning events for the holiday, which has gained popularity in recent years, for the first time. Conway-based Go Get Your You Foundation is one of them.

Tonya Harriot, who serves as director for the nonprofit, is organizing a Juneteenth-themed soul food festival in Conway on Saturday. She has always wanted to host the event but wasn’t sure how it would work after uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. But Harriott, who is also owner of Margaret’s Soul Food restaurant in the city, decided to have the food fest on Juneteenth after learning about the holiday’s history.

“This is perfect for now, because last year we were huddled up together trying to survive, and now you got so many Black people that have freed themselves,” Harriott said.

Go Get Your You Foundation, which is sponsoring the event Saturday, provides tuition assistance, scholarship programs and business assistance to single parents. The event will feature games, health checkpoints, motivational speakers, vendors and kids activities. Harriott said events like this build community and let people know they have people they can depend on.

Horry County Parks and Recreation is also hosting a Juneteenth celebration.The first Juneteenth Family Fun Day will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at James R. Frazier Community Center.

Betty Gause, the center’s program director, said the event will have food, vendors, games, a COVID-19 vaccination site and a job fair. Dr. Tiffany Hollis, a professor of African-American studies at Coastal Carolina University, will also be there teaching guests about the history of Juneteenth and its importance.

“We just want to educate people on Juneteenth because we really started hearing about it within the last five years,” Gause said.

The City of Myrtle Beach has been planning a Juneteenth event for almost a year. On Saturday, the city will celebrate the holiday at Charlie’s Place starting at 4 p.m. The event will feature history, exhibits and entertainment.

Cookie Goings, director for the city’s Neighborhood Services, said it’s important to have the event because of everything the Black community has experienced this last year or so, particularly the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

“This gives us encouragement and hope,” she said about the upcoming event. “You got to keep fighting, you got to keep marching, you got to keep working together.”

Goings, who is Black, said the event allows the community fellowship but also gives people a chance to learn more about the holiday.

“We are celebrating and excited, but we’re not getting lost in this,” Goings said. “We know that there’s still work to do. And we’re willing to walk alongside our brothers and our sisters, our allies and all those who care about equality and justice.”

Juneteenth becomes national holiday

Earlier this month, Myrtle Beach City Council recognized the holiday with a proclamation Tuesday. But it is not an official holiday in the city.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 415-14 on Wednesday to send the bill to Biden after the Senate passed the bill on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

In 2018, South Carolina designated June 19 as the “Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom Day,” but lawmakers did not adopt it as a legal holiday. Before the 2021 legislative session, Richland County Democrats state Sen. Darrell Jackson and House Rep. Kambrell Garvin filed similar legislation to add Juneteenth to a list of holidays recognized by South Carolina, The State reported in December. But nothing came out of those bills.

Andre Key, an African-American studies professor at Claflin University, said Juneteenth was originally only celebrated in Texas, Arkansas and other surrounding areas. It wasn’t until the 20th century that it became more widely recognized. Still, he added, many people were still not celebrating the holiday until more recently.

Key, who teaches at a historically black university, said there might not be such a big push to observe Juneteenth in South Carolina because the state wasn’t “necessarily a hotbed of protests.”

“Some of the states that moved fastest were those who were worried about social or racial unrest because of the protests,” he said.

Key pointed out that the meaning of Juneteenth tells us to always pursue justice, and that freedom and justice have to come. He said, in some ways, though, it’s ironic how local and state governments have recognized June 19 to appease Black protesters when the holiday implores them to pursue justice.

“Politicians kind of latched on to this holiday as a pacifier or a substitute to say ‘hey we care about racial injustice,’” he said.