The Limestone County NAACP hosted its inaugural Juneteenth Celebration at Jimmy Gill Park on Saturday, June 15, bridging the relationship between local activists, community members and law enforcement in the area.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden made June 19 — Juneteenth — the 11th federal holiday in the United State’s history. The holiday is in honor of June 19, 1865, the date when African Americans in the South learned of the abolishment of slavery due to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Wilbert Woodruff, the NAACP president of Limestone County, helped set up the Juneteenth Celebration and he talked to the News Courier on Saturday about the important history of the holiday.
“President Lincoln ended slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, but it took two and a half years later for slaves living in Texas to learn anything about it,” Woodruff said. “That’s a cruel joke within itself. For hundreds of years blacks were used as slaves, being kidnapped from their families and tortured to do the worst jobs imaginable. The ending of that is a day that should be recognized and celebrated throughout the nation.”
Woodruff further explained the importance in celebrating the holiday, and why it is not just a day for Black people to partake in — but a day for everyone to enjoy.
“We absolutely must celebrate and bring recognition to the holiday, because there are still people who don’t recognize it,” Woodruff said. “We need to understand how far we have made it as a country, and how much work we still have to do.”
The Juneteenth Celebration, which was also called the Solo Gospel Fest, featured music that echoed inside of the pavilion at Jimmy Gill Park — where everyone gathered to escape the blistering heat on Saturday.
Free food and drinks were just some of the benefits that were offered at the event, as tables were set up inside the pavilion for government photo id and voter registration as well. The LifeSouth blood drive bus was also set up in the parking lot of the park.
“We want to empower as many people as we can to take part in their communities,” Woodruff said. “We want to give these people who come out today as many opportunities as possible to help and give back to their community.”
Various members of the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department and the Athens Police Department, such as Athens Police Chief Anthony Pressnell, stopped by to enjoy the day’s activities.
“It’s very important to celebrate days like this, and it is very important for all of our law enforcement in the area to be involved in the community like this,” Pressnell said. “This is how we become one, and that’s what we need to be. We are already a very close-knit community and we need to do everything we can to continue that.”
Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin reciprocated the sentiments of Pressnell, noting that the event organizers reached out and invited his department to the celebration over the weekend.
“Unfortunately, I was out of town but a lot of our guys stopped by and had a good time at the park with everybody,” McLaughlin said. “It is all about building those relationships, and it meant a lot to me to be invited out to be a part of it.”
As the holiday approaches on Wednesday, June 19, Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks told The News Courier that city offices will still remain open, but he still plans on taking part in the holiday.
“It’s important for us to keep the history and the perspective of what has happened in that time,” Marks said. “We did give an additional personal day for people to take as they saw fit.”