Juneteenth Goes Virtual to Celebrate Liberation

Port Huron, MI — Kevin Watkins, President of the Port Huron Chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., understands that many people aren’t aware of the significance of June 19, 1865. He’d love to see this date, also called Juneteenth, transition from a little known day of recognition to an official national holiday.

Juneteenth commemorates the day that Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston Texas and read the federal order that proclaimed the freedom of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was formally issued on January 1, 1863, it took some time for its effects to ripple throughout the United States.

This Saturday, June 20th, the Port Huron Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. Youth Council will celebrate Juneteenth with a virtual conversation focused on “Rebuilding the Black Community” The event is open to the community and includes seminars and a Q&A session led by Lavaughn Price and Alphonso Amos of the PH N.A.A.C.P. Youth Council and other leaders from community groups, business, and government.

More information is available on the Port Huron N.A.A.C.P.’s Facebook page <HERE>

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand