Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Little Rock on Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth Independence Day, which commemorates the announcement of the end of slavery in the United States.
Three blocks of Ninth Street -- from Broadway to State Street -- were blocked Saturday for the Mosaic Templar Cultural Center's celebration of the 150th anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, and announced to slaves that the Civil War had ended and they were officially free. The news came 21/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had declared the slaves to be free.
On Saturday, Tori Gordon of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office stepped onstage to read a proclamation from the governor.
"Juneteenth Independence Day is a day to celebrate the last vestiges of more than 200 years of slavery and to demonstrate racial reconciliation and healing after the shameful legacy of oppression," the proclamation said. "African-Americans have made great strides, defeating powerful and often violently racist opposition on the road to true equality."
Arkansas first recognized Juneteenth Independence Day in 2005. The date, recognized by 41 states, is not a federal holiday.
Magnolia and Springdale hosted Juneteenth celebrations last weekend; Camden, Helena-West Helena, Wilmar and Conway celebrated this weekend.
The Mosaic Templar Cultural Center has been hosting Little Rock's Juneteenth events since 2009. This year's festival included music, a Corvette show and a film festival. Performances ranged from hip-hop to gospel music.
Last year, more than 1,200 people attended the event, and festival organizers estimated that the number grew this year.
Inside the museum Saturday, attendees could walk through the newest exhibit, "Freedom! Oh, Freedom!" which chronicles the role of black soldiers in the Civil War.
Eight-year-old Naomi Taylor stopped at an exhibit about black entrepreneurs in Little Rock, reading the names and dates aloud. Her mother, Katherine Taylor, smiled at Naomi's interest.
"Celebrating Juneteenth is really about understanding the history of emancipation," Katherine Taylor said. "I want [Naomi] to know and feel proud of her history and see how far Arkansas has come, how far we still have to go."
Tameka Lee, program and marketing director for the cultural center, said she hopes every Arkansan celebrating Juneteenth stops to think about what the day commemorates.
"Our state is a former slave state," Lee said. "We can't forget the historical and cultural significance of that. Juneteenth is our reminder."
Before the robed members of the Gloryland Pastor's Choir of North Little Rock took the stage for a jubilant performance, state Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, asked audience members to bow their heads in prayer for the family members of nine people killed Wednesday in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.
"We've had difficult days these past few days," Chesterfield said. "But you cannot kill the dream. We are here today because our forefathers and mothers dreamed we would be free."
Black Arkansans have carried the banner of freedom since that day in 1865.
"We continue to carry it with pride," she said.
The cultural center's assistant director, Quantia "Key" Fletcher, said racially charged violence can spark important conversations about the history of violence against blacks.
"We get comfortable in thinking everything is OK, when in some ways it's an ongoing struggle," she said.
The governor's proclamation urged Arkansans to "stand up in the face of bigotry and help to bring our country and our state a step closer to victory in the long march toward social justice."
Metro on 06/21/2015