Northam coming to Fort Monroe, where first Africans landed, to commemorate Juneteenth
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Gov. Ralph Northam will visit Fort Monroe on Friday for Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery, at the site where the first enslaved Africans landed at English North America in 1619.
Northam designated Juneteenth as a state holiday a year ago. Friday will be the first observance.
Earlier this week, Congress voted to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday, joining 11 others. It will be known as the Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorated as the end of slavery in the United States.
On that day in 1865, the last of the enslaved African Americans, living in Galveston, Texas, heard word from Union soldiers they were free.
The Emancipation Proclamation, signed by then-President Abraham Lincoln more than two years earlier, had officially freed slaves throughout the south.
Organizers said Friday’s hour-long program, which begins at 11 a.m., will feature prayer and song, including a presentation from I.C. Norcom High School, in Portsmouth, and its student gospel choir.
Among speakers expected to give remarks, include Virginia Poet Laureate Luisa A. Igloria. A Norfolk resident, Igloria is a professor of creative writing at Old Dominion University.
Lisa Vernon Sparks, 757-247-4832, lvernonsparks@dailypress.com
