Under the baobab: Juneteenth’s meaning felt across US and in Happy Valley
On Jan. 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation declared, “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. ... Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States…do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free persons.”
This executive proclamation ended slavery in some parts of the United States but only applied to the Confederacy where the Union had no practical jurisdiction. The Confederate Rebellion ended on April 9, 1865 when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. On June 19, 1865 General Gordon Granger arrived on the remote island of Galveston, Texas to enforce the emancipation of its formerly enslaved people. He pronounced General Order No. 3:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
On Dec. 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, stating:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
The era of legal human slavery in this country was officially over. It had lasted 246 years.
On June 17, 2021, 156 years later, President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Act making Juneteenth the 11th American federal holiday and the first to obtain legal observance as a federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated in 1983.
This year the Borough of State College, the State College NAACP, the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau will hold its 4th annual celebration of Juneteenth. On June 17 there will be a street fair held in the MLK Plaza and the 100 block of Fraser Street from noon-5 p.m. There will be an art exhibit at the Woskob Family Gallery in the Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S. Allen St. between 5-8 p.m. June 16.
IN THE COMMUNITY
Last Monday, Pastor Scott Schul welcomed 300 people to his church, Grace Lutheran in State College, for a “Concert for Ukraine” benefit for Nizhyn, the Borough’s new Sister City. Volunteer organizers included Laurel Sanders, Daryl Durran and Svitlana Budzhak-Jones. Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins gave opening remarks. There were performances by Allison Brault, Emily Long, Ruth Stokes, Christopher Guzman, Dennis Glocke, Max Zorin, Jonah Glunt, Rusiana Kaminska, Melody Quah and members of the Stonebridge Winds: Ashley Shank, Anthony Poehailos, Anna Skupky, Daryl Durran with Andreas Oeste, Brandy Davis, Sarah Schouten, and Matthew So. The benefit raised over $7,000 for Nizhyn.
The Pride Parade was held on Saturday, with a festival in Sidney Friedman Park sponsored by Centre LGBTQA Support Network, the State College Borough and the Downtown State College Improvement District. Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games was canceled this past weekend because of the air quality.
This past Friday “The Crowded Room,” a new series that stars Tom Holland (“Spiderman”) and Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) premiered the first three of 10 episodes on Apple TV+. Later episodes may include someone we all know but can’t reveal because of non-disclosure agreements. Ssssh!
Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He was the 2022 Lion’s Paw Awardee and Living Legend honoree of the National Black Theatre Festival. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.
