As Juneteenth approaches, communities across Connecticut are holding celebrations marking the time when the last slaves in America learned they were free.
“It's a beautiful thing to see people in the community coming out, being unified, doing positive things,” Lorenzo Boyd, a professor at the University of New Haven, said.
As New Haven held their Juneteenth celebration Saturday, the community came out to celebrate culture and Black excellence.
“The big part of the Juneteenth is trying to help people understand the Black experience,” Boyd said.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
An experience that involves understanding our nation’s history with slavery. Juneteenth marking when the nation’s last enslaved Americans in Texas learned they were free on June 19, 1865, more than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Organizers explaining it marks as a day when all Americans were truly free.
“We need to explain to people that Black history is in fact American history. And it's really okay for everyone to celebrate it.”
Local
This year marks the first time the holiday is observed as a legal state holiday.
In Hartford, the celebration involved speakers reflecting on the sacrifice of the Black men who fought for the Union Army during the Civil War.
“Each of them represents a life dedicated to the fight for justice and equality, their sacrifices are not in vain,” Corrie Betts, Greater Hartford NAACP president, said.
A UConn professor using the words of the late Black orator Frederick Douglass to explain the significance of all Americans becoming free.
“If you win freedom and citizenship, we shall share your freedom and citizenship. And by we he meant every single person in the United States of America,” Dr. Fiona Vernal said.
There will be other celebrations including in West Hartford Sunday in Blue Back Square.
