Community Turns Out for a Juneteenth Celebration

On June 19th, over one hundred people braved a severe storm to attend a Community Juneteenth event at Willow Grove Presbyterian Church. Musicians Stephen Fuller, Fred Fischer, Lauren Scales and Gil Scott Chapman and artist Mansa K. Mussa entertained the crowd. High school students from Y Achievers and the Black Student Union at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School volunteered their time to be part of the program.

Juneteenth is the oldest and the most popular annual national celebration of African American emancipation from slavery. It marks the day, June 19, 1865, when news finally came to Texas that the Civil War had ended and all slaves were now freed, fully two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Community Juneteenth was supported by a grant to The Friends of Scotch Plains Public Library from Investors Foundation, and by Social Justice Matters, Inc. through fund-raising efforts at Mara’s Café and Bakery in Fanwood.

Photos:

Attendees (Photo by Dennis Brooks)

Lauren Scales, soloist and Gil Scott Chapman on piano (Photo by Pamela Brooks)

Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney of Willow Grove Presbyterian Church welcomes attendees (Photo by Pamela Brownstein)

Stephen Fuller, soloist and Fred Fischer on piano (Photo by Pamela Brooks)