SUNO museum host Juneteenth celebration

The graduate program in Museum Studies, the Center for African and African-American Studies, and the Lyceum Committee at Southern University, New Orleans (SUNO), in conjunction with the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, History and Culture (NOAAM) in Treme and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, presented a Juneteenth Celebration, Saturday, June 16.

The Juneteenth celebration at NOAAM featured a variety of guest speakers, a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, an art exhibition by SUNO alumnus Charles Sims, cultural and musical performances and both food
and merchandise vendors. New Orleans City Councilman James Carter, John Mosley, who has coordinated arguably one of the longest running Juneteenth Celebrations in New Orleans, and the Rev. Tom Watson served as guest speakers.

Musical and cultural performers included Bamboola 2000, Zion Trinity, Tekrema Dance Theater, Josephine Mills, Rudy Mills and the Caribbean Funk Band, poet Chuck Perkins, and others. Food vendors were Vaucresson Sausage Company, Rainey’s Restaurant and Caterers, and Seafood King Catering Service.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday in fourteen states of the United States, and commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas, and for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been announced on January 1, 1863, it had little immediate
effect on most slaves day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce slaves new freedoms. The former slaves rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations.

For more information, call NOAAM at 566-1138 or SUNO¹s graduate program in Museum Studies at 286-5484.