Juneteenth celebration planned in New Castle
Jun. 12—For New Castle Councilman David Ward, Juneteenth is his Independence Day.
He looks forward to celebrating the annual holiday and wants to educate people about the day's significance.
"That is my day to celebrate," Ward said. "It's Black excellence."
To mark the occasion, Ward's non-profit agency, The Cultural Committee of New Castle, will host Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Whole Truth Pentecostal Ministries at 1204 W. Washington St.
"We just want people to come out and have a fun day," Ward said.
The event will feature 15 to 20 vendors from businesses and organizations, games and activities for children, a disc jockey, basketball hoops and fireworks at the close of the event.
He said the Black churches will be honored for the occasion, while members of the CCNC will inform attendees on the history and significance of the holiday.
"We want to honor and recognize the churches in the community, especially the Black churches," Ward said. "We want to celebrate Black history in New Castle."
Juneteenth began with enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. Although President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed them in 1863, it could not be enforced in many places in the South until the Civil War ended in 1865.
Even then, some white people who had profited from their unpaid labor were reluctant to share the news. The day was made a federal holiday in 2021.
Other names for the holiday include Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Black Independence Day.
Ward said while Black Americans still face many injustices, Juneteenth marks when they were officially deemed equal as Americans. He said the day makes him reflect on how far Black Americans have come, and how far they still have to go.
"It was a very important time in the formation of America," said New Castle NAACP President Lawrence Williams. "(We) celebrate a day of freedom."
Ward said he has been pushing the city to celebrate Juneteenth for years, hoping the CCNC can partner with the city or the Citywide Development Corporation in the future to make an official city event.
The leadership team of the CCNC includes Ward as the founder, president Aaron Clark, vice president Donelle Searcy, secretary JaVonna Moss, treasurer Samareese Richardson and Danielle Burley as public relations manager.
Ward said he wants the nonprofit to celebrate, encourage and uplift the children in the city, to prepare them to be productive and responsible adults and to build a trust with the members of the city with each other.
The motto of the CCNC is the classic phrase "It takes a village to raise a child."
"It takes the whole village to raise the community," Ward said.
Ward said next year, the CCNC will look to expand on the Juneteenth event celebrating specific individuals with plaques, and inviting in a special guest speaker he can't reveal at this time.
Previous year's celebrations were held at the downtown Riverwalk Park, between Ebenezer Church of God and the Vista South apartment complex on the South Side and last year's in Cascade Park.
