Annual Juneteenth Celebration inspires unity and reflection in Floyd
Deborah Travis explained the significance of Juneteenth, a federal holiday since June 2021. Travis said that June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
Floyd CARE (Community Action for Racial Equity) celebrated its sixth annual Juneteenth Celebration in the Warren Lineberry Park on Saturday. The event featured speakers, music by Jerome Claytor and Touch of Class, gospel songs by the Little River Missionary Baptist Church, and the presentation of a Freedom Quilt.
Cieara Saunders, the event’s emcee, described Floyd CARE as a non-partisan, nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire community action for racial equity through celebration and education. She thanked attendees for coming, thanked sponsors, and introduced speakers.
Speaking to the crowd from the stage, NAACP Montgomery-Radford-Floyd Branch President Deborah Travis explained the significance of Juneteenth, a federal holiday since June 2021. Travis said that June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. “It’s about celebrating Black culture, history, and about bringing people together to honor those who came before us and fought for the rights and privileges that we hold and that are under threat today,” she said.
Click to enlarge photos in gallery. Left: The Little River Missionary Baptist Church singers pose. Pictured on the left is the church pastor Rev. Dr. Tamika Whitfield. Center: Virginia Organizing from VA Tech had an information table. Pictured is Dr. Brandy Faulkner, Professor of Political Science at Virginia Tech and one of the day’s speakers. Right: The NAACP information booth. Photos by Colleen Redman
“The NAACP is for anyone who believes in justice for all and civil rights for all,” Travis said, inviting attendees to be involved. “It was formed in 1909 by a group of white and Black people. We work with lawyers in D.C. and Baltimore who advocate for us in Congress. We legislate and advocate,” she said. “Together we are strong.”
Southwestern Virginia’s premier source for hemp products. From edibles and tinctures to topicals and accessories, we provide trusted, high-quality options for both wellness and relaxation. Visit our retail locations in Downtown Floyd, Roanoke (Wasena neighborhood) or shop online today!
Following a dance set by Jerome Claytor, Dr. Brandy Faulkner, professor of Political Science at Virginia Tech, spoke to the crowd about voting rights. She reviewed constitutional amendments that give all American citizens the right to vote, as well as some of the ways the right to vote has been suppressed, historically and today. She was followed by Donna Sweeney, who shared information on how to vote locally. “It is your responsibility to vote. It’s your country,” said Sweeney, who has been assisting with elections in Floyd for 30 years.
Mayor Will Griffin spoke about Juneteenth as a day to bring people together and to remind them of a long-held Floyd guiding principle: live and let live. “Juneteenth is a chapter we buried, the one where freedom once declared still had to be physically delivered, and even then, it arrived broken, already under assault, already being rolled back by the same forces that fought to preserve slavery,” he said.
Griffin noted that the last enslaved Americans in Texas only heard that Abraham Lincoln declared that enslaved people free more than two years after it was law because the men who owned them chose to keep them in bondage.
“One of the lessons of Juneteenth is that the powerful get to decide when to tell you when things have changed," Griffin said. “That should make a person paying attention ask, ‘what am I being told right now, not at all, or late?’”
I am no longer practicing optometry, but I'm still selling frames at discounted prices, and selling and servicing glasses.
Any questions, feel free to call Blake Mitnick
Commonwealth Eye Center
540-745-8733
211 W Main St.
The presentation of the Freedom Quilt by members of the community was illuminating. Oral histories indicate that the various quilt patterns were hung on clotheslines and tacked to trees to communicate routes and safe houses to enslaved people escaping to freedom through the Underground Railroad. The Freedom Quilt, made by Elaine Thomas of Patrick County, was displayed at a past Juneteenth celebration in Floyd, but now block replicas are used in order to preserve the aging quilt.
Along with live music and the roster of speakers, there were information tables spread across the park. Activities at the park gazebo included creating a community banner and paint-stamped flags. Attendees enjoyed socializing and dancing with friends and neighbors under sunny skies and warm weather.
Click to enlarge photos in gallery.
