It may not be a federal holiday yet, but a coalition of Westmoreland County organizations will mark Juneteenth with a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation with a rally next week.
The event, dubbed “Unity in the Community,” will be held from 2-5 p.m. Friday at St. Clair Park in Greensburg. It is being hosted in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Conference of the NAACP, said local organizer Ronel Baccus. Plans call for it to become an annual celebration.
Juneteenth is the commemoration of June 19, 1865, the day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over and that enslaved people were freed under the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862.
Texas has marked the date as a state holiday for 40 years. Over the intervening years, 46 other states, including Pennsylvania, have adopted similar resolutions.
Baccus said the Greensburg event will celebrate diversity and recovery in the community and feature over 20 speakers from various organizations and local officials, including Clarion Psychiatric Center, Sage’s Army, NAACP State Conference, county Commissioner Doug Chew and Medmark Treatment Center. Each of the organizations will have tables with information about their mission.
It seemed only appropriate to bring together stakeholders who are promoting social justice, health and equity to mark Juneteenth, Baccus said.
“It’s our duty as citizens to address and stand up for social justice and dignity for all people,” she said. “The covid-19 pandemic opened up so many people’s eyes to the need for stronger systems of mental health support and recovery. We must transform our society, work together in unity to demand change and hold the people in power accountable to the needs of the people. We must be strong and courageous and do the work.”
While the event is a first in Greensburg, Juneteenth celebrations have been growing and gaining traction in many areas of the country. Roll Call recently reported that a bill pending in Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday now has 57 co-sponsors.
Last year, Mayor Bill Peduto declared Juneteenth a holiday in Pittsburgh.
Organizers in Pittsburgh are planning a 13-day Juneteenth celebration from June 18-27 which will include music, food and black artists and performing arts.
Kenneth Huston, of Monroeville, president of the Pennsylvania Conference of the NAACP, said he first attended a Juneteenth ceremony about six years ago. He commended Baccus for her efforts and her focus on unity in Westmoreland County.
“I think that when you talk about the issues of race, it always becomes a polarizing, divisive issue. But the celebration of Juneteenth is a celebration of an historical accomplishment in the United States as a whole because it was really the end of slavery,” Huston said. “I think with Juneteenth, we as Americans can celebrate the accomplishment of ending the institution of slavery and bring unity to the accomplishment of ending slavery as a people.”
He said every American can share in that celebration.
“What I want to see is us building bridges with this. I wish everyone could say, ‘This was a horrible time in our country, but thank God we were able to overcome it,’” he said.
