Juneteenth celebration set in Clairton

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

There’s at least one Juneteenth celebration coming to the Mon Valley thanks to a local dance squad. 

The DRIPP Squad will hold the inaugural Mon Valley Juneteenth Festival from noon to 9 p.m. June 19 at the main lodge at Clairton Park.

What is Juneteenth?

June 19 is also known as Juneteenth National Freedom Day, America’s second Independence Day or Freedom Day.

“Juneteenth,” a combination of June and 19th, marks June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers reached Galveston, Texas, the furthest point in the south, with news of the end of the Civil War. 

Enslaved Americans there were previously unaware they had been freed more than two years earlier when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation or that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered in Virginia two months earlier.

Gov. Tom Wolf declared June 19 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Pennsylvania two years ago, but African-Americans across the country have marked the occasion for more than 150 years.

Juneteenth celebrations take many forms. In some places, it is celebrated with picnics. Some mark Juneteenth with large family reunions and/or church services. Some municipalities and organizations hold street fairs, musical festivals and concerts, historical reenactments, speakers series and town halls. Others participate in political and/or activist demonstrations, voter registration events and more.

“Juneteenth is a time to celebrate, gather as family, reflect on the past and look to the future,” according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture’s website.

And like most holidays, Juneteenth is often celebrated by breaking bread with loved ones and strangers for a “Juneteenth feast,” according to the museum’s website.

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