MCHD recognizes Juneteenth Day events
June 15, 2022
MCHD recognizes Juneteenth Day events
MOBILE, Alabama — The Mobile County Health Department’s Health Equity Office would like to honor Juneteenth as a day of major significance in American history, showing that freedom and racial equality have always been and continue to be a hard-fought battle.
Celebrated annually on June 19, “Juneteenth” commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. The date represents the Union soldiers’ arrival in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, with news of the end of the Civil War and freedom for all who had been in bondage.
Events occurring throughout the weekend in honor of Juneteenth include:
The City of Mobile is offering a Juneteenth: Education through Celebration Event-filled weekend. Activities include:
• Thursday, June 16, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. — History talks and cocktail hour at the History Museum of Mobile
• Friday, June 17, from 2 p.m. to sundown — Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail Tour starting at the History Museum of Mobile
• Sunday, June 19, from 2 to 6 p.m. — Afternoon of family fun at the Hope Community Center
Learn more about the City of Mobile’s events at https://www.cityofmobile.org/parks-rec/events/juneteenth.
The City of Prichard and Alabama Power Foundation is offering a Prichard Juneteenth Parade on Sunday, June 19, at noon on Route B. A festival will follow at 3 p.m. in Downtown Prichard on South Wilson Avenue. Learn more about the City of Prichard’s event at https://www.thecityofprichard.org/juneteen-celebration-2022.
The Mobile Public Library is offering a special event on Saturday, June 18, at 2 p.m. at the Ben May Main Branch. The event will feature Ben Raines, a journalist who first located the wreckage confirmed as the ruin of the Clotilda, and a panel discussion of experts from the Clotilda Descendants Association and MOVE Gulf Coast Community Development Corporation.
According to the website www.juneteenth.com, Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation – which had been issued on January 1, 1863 – was read to newly freed African Americans in Texas by U.S. Army General Gordon Granger. Texas was the last Confederate State to have the proclamation announced after the end of the American Civil War in April of that year. Texas was the most remote of the slave states, and minimal fighting meant few Union troops were present to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
Alabama became the 40th state to recognize Juneteenth through the passage of “Recognizing the Celebration of Juneteenth Day” (Act No. 2011-398, SJR-157) legislation sponsored by state Sen. Hank Sanders in 2011. In January this year, state Rep. Thomas Jackson pre-filed a bill to designate the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. Jackson says this designated state holiday would also allow public schools to offer instruction and programs regarding Juneteenth.
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This media product was supported by funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, under 1 NH75OT000104-01-00. The content of this media product is that of the authors. It does not necessarily stand for the official position of or endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.