Juneteenth Rock Hill Inc. will present their Juneteenth celebration on June 21 – 22, 2019. The event will start on Friday evening with a Food Truck Friday event with performances and vendors. On Saturday, June 22, the FreedomFest event is held on the grounds of historic Friendship College and Mt. Prospect Baptist Church. SC Humanities supported this program with a Mini Grant.
Juneteenth is recognized as an observance marking the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, the Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas to inform inhabitants of the Civil War’s end two months earlier. Two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Granger’s first order of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3, which stated significantly, “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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.” June 19th – which was quickly shortened to “Juneteenth” among celebrants – has become the African American addendum to the country’s national Independence Day. The mission of Juneteenth is to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of black history and culture.
On Saturday, June 22, the main part of the Juneteenth Rock Hill program takes place on the grounds of Friendship College and Mt. Prospect Baptist Church. The “FreedomFest” will include vendors, talent showcase, children’s games, and a storyteller. Newsletters that outline the history of Juneteenth are distributed throughout the event. The Juneteenth Rock Hill programming is free and open to the public.
More information about Juneteenth Rock Hill can be found on the website: https://www.juneteenthrockhill.com/.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 20-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
