Old Dillard Museum celebrates Juneteenth this weekend

The Old Dillard Museum will celebrate Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day with a mini-carnival festival on Saturday, June 19 from 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is located at 1009 NW 4th Street, Fort Lauderdale.

The festivities will include an exhibition of carnival costumes by Fun Generation, a steel pan bazaar and a jazz concert. The steel pan bazaar will feature the steel pan band Sunphonix, the costumed children’s chorale Syblins and a variety of food, books, health, artistic and craft vendors. The jazz concert will feature violinist and vocalist Nicole Yarling. Juneteenth is one of several Emancipation Day traditions that are celebrated in the American hemisphere.

June 19, 1865 marks the day that blacks enslaved in Texas were informed that the Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln had freed them during the Civil War. A similar event and celebration is based in Tallahassee, Florida, to commemorate an announcement there on May 20, 1965.

Many other states and regions of the United States celebrate Emancipation Day based on when the proclamation was enforced in their area or when the proclamation was signed by President Lincoln – January 1, 1863.

Emancipation Day ceremonies are also celebrate in several British West Indian nations to commemorate the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. The act ended legalized slavery in the British Empire on August 1, 1834.  In many Caribbean countries the Emancipation Day celebration is part of Carnival festivities during the first week in August.

Funding for this event, free and open to the public, is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and supported by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Short URL: http://browardnetonline.com/?p=8506

Posted by AdamF on Jun 14 2010. Filed under Broward County, Families, Fort Lauderdale, Holiday, Local news, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.