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Dylan Townsend
Participants enjoy the 2023 Juneteenth Festival on College Green.
Organizations, vendors, families and members of the Ohio University and Athens community filled the College Green on Saturday, June 17, to take part in Juneteenth festivities.
Officially named a federal holiday in 2021, Juneteenth marks the United States’ second Independence Day. Though the Emancipation Proclamation, made effective in 1863, intended to formally end slavery, the practice continued in many Confederate territories. On June 19, 1865, around 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, announcing that the over 250,000 enslaved Black Americans in the state were freed by executive decree. The day, which became known as “Juneteenth” by the newly freed Texans, was declared a nationally recognized federal holiday in 2021.
Ohio University began celebrating the occasion with annual programming and activities in June 2021.
The history of the national holiday was not lost on the attendees at this year's event. To kick off the celebration, Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed of the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society led a walking Black History Tour of Athens. The purpose of the tour was to educate the community on the rich history of African Americans in the southeastern Ohio region.
“It’s an opportunity to revisit the origins of it,” said Visiting Professor of African American Studies Uzoma Miller, Ph. D., about the holiday. “I think of Juneteenth as a personal reminder to me to not take for granted information that I’ve been exposed to. Part of my function is to impart knowledge and information to help generate conversations to make society better.”
More about Juneteenth's history with Dr. Miller
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Following the Black History Tour, the celebration continued in the afternoon on the College Green during the Juneteenth Festival.
Throughout the program, speakers remarked on the importance of the holiday, including Miller, Interim Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Dr. Salome Nnoromele and Mayor Steve Patterson on behalf of the City of Athens. In addition, Ohio University graduate the Reverend Jack Sullivan led a singing of the National Black Anthem.
Also during the program, Tia Jameson, assistant athletics director of student-athlete development and inclusion and member of the 2023 Juneteenth Planning Committee, assisted her nephew in a reading of “Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem” written by Sojourner Kincaid Rolle.
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Throughout the afternoon, food vendors provided a variety of food to participants at the celebration. In addition, children enjoyed a bouncy house and face painting for entertainment, while trivia, giveaways and music from DJ B-Funk kept the crowd lively. A wide variety of community organizations also offered fellowship and connection.
"We're so grateful for all of the community organizations who contributed time and talent to this event,” reflected Assistant Director of the Center for Campus and Community Engagement Courtney Lefebvre. “The passion for justice and inclusion in the Athens community is a big part of what makes this place so special.”
The Juneteenth celebration has quickly become a pivotal event for the Ohio University and Athens community, bringing together those of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life – representative of the power of solidarity within the community.
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“Juneteenth offers us the opportunity to stop and reflect on our shared history, the sufferings and crippling pain of oppression and the promise of a free society,” Nnoromele said. “We must recommit ourselves to the work of rebuilding, hoping, and creating for a better, more equitable future, based on fairness and justice, and harmony for all. We must do better because when every one of us succeeds, we all indeed succeed and prosper.”
The event is supported by the Athens County Foundation and the City of Athens, along with sponsorship from various Ohio University colleges and departments.