Juneteenth organizers want to make celebration entertaining, educational

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Communities across the country are celebrating Juneteenth this weekend with festivals, concerts, and other special events.

The celebration in Starkville kicked off Wednesday. Organizers said the mission was to make it one that is entertaining, educational, and inclusive.

Before the time of technology, information took quite some time to spread around. As for enslaved African Americans, it was two months before historians say the first African Americans learned of their freedom.

The civil war ended in April of 1865, but it wasn’t until General Gordon Granger marched his troops into Galveston, Texas, that enslaved African Americans heard life-changing news.

“So on that date, June 19th, 1865, some over 250,000 African Americans who resided in Texas learned that the Civil War ended and that they were free,” Dr. Don Shaffer said.

That day birthed a new celebration, now called Juneteenth. Shaffer is the Director of African American Studies at Mississippi State. He said the name of the holiday expresses and represents uniqueness.

“The name of the holiday reflects black culture, black vernacular; we took both words June and the nineteenth and made it one word it reflects the linguistic creativity of black people,” Shaffer said.

156 years later, under the Biden Administration, Juneteenth became a national holiday and Shaffer believes this is an important acknowledgment

“I think it is as important as the other independence day that we will be celebrating in a few weeks because, you know, it commemorates the moment when the nation finally lives up to its founding ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all,” Shaffer said.

President of the StarkVegas Juneteenth Committee for Unity Frank Nichols said events will be spread across the city to share more culture.

“We wanted to make sure that we put them all over the city of Starkville because African Americans exist all over the city of Starkville,” Nichols said.

And at the center of the celebration, Nichols said there is always room for education.

“We want to educate them about the African American culture; there is a whole culture that exists because of our ancestors wear former slaves because of that a whole culture was born,” Nichols said.

Nichols and Shaffer agree that as the community celebrates together; it’s a time to recognize similarities that unite instead of focusing on differences.

“It is important for the community to celebrate because it allows us to celebrate the things that make us unique as individual communities and cultures but it also allows us to establish common grounds and understand we are more alike than we are different,” Nichols said.

Starkville’s celebration continues throughout the weekend with a festival tonight, a jazz concert Saturday night, and a gospel concert Sunday. There will be a youth art gallery Monday at J.L. King Park.

Columbus and West Point are also hosting Juneteenth events this weekend.

The Juneteenth Celebration for Tupelo has been postponed because of expected bad weather.

Organizers said the parade will take place Saturday at 1 p.m., But all other activities have been rescheduled for July 1.

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