Palatka plans to make June 19 official holiday at commission meeting
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Hartley Leacock plays the trumpet at Eva Lyon Park in Crescent City during a 2017 Juneteenth celebration. The celebration has been canceled this year because of COVID-19. -
Positively Putnam FL
By Nick Blank
Palatka Daily News
nblank@palatkadailynews.com
The city of Palatka is making Juneteenth an official holiday at a virtual city commission meeting Friday morning.
Juneteenth is the 155-year-old celebration of when slaves in Galveston, Texas, the westernmost state in the country at the time, learned of their freedom June 19, 1865 – more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was read.
Palatka Mayor Terrill Hill said that in a climate of heightened awareness of social justice, it is imperative that people celebrate the accomplishments of black Americans and the growth of America.
“With being able to celebrate Freedom Day in Palatka and cities around the country, we’re starting to see the country embrace what Juneteenth is,” Hill said. “We’re seeing cities like Tempe, Arizona, and Hartford, Connecticut, make June 19 a holiday.”
The virtual meeting 9 a.m. Friday will be an alternative to the Crescent City festivities, Hill said.
“We’re virtually having this meeting so we have this momentous occasion memorialized,” Hill said. “The other part is doing COVID-19 testing and targeting the African-American community, which has been the ethnicity affected the most. And we’re making sure that we continually push awareness to start to flatten our curve.”
Since 2012, Crescent City has hosted a Juneteenth celebration, though the festivities scheduled for Friday have been scratched this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now it’s celebrated across the world.
A. Philip Randolph Day is celebrated at the same time in Crescent City. The black scholar, labor leader and civil rights leader, who was born in Crescent City in 1889, marched in Washington, D.C., multiple times. Randolph died in 1979.
Event organizer Angel Duke said the Crescent City cancellation was unfortunate but the holiday was still a chance to reflect on the importance of Juneteenth. The event is usually held at Eva Lyon Park.
“For me, it’s a time of hope, giving, loving and forgiving,” Duke said. “We rejoice in all we have accomplished.”
Duke opened the A. Philip Randolph Gallery and Interactive Learning Center in Crescent City in 2016. The Palatka City Commission named 11th Street after Randolph.
Duke said her team starts planning the event, finding vendors and arranging entertainment in January.
“It took a lot of planning,” Duke said. “We (canceled) it in the best interest of everybody.”
After the racial turmoil in the U.S. the past few weeks, Duke said, Juneteenth is an opportunity to emphasize black lives and black accomplishments.
“Even though we have the pandemic, Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865,” Duke said. “It’s a special day and not to be taken lightly.”
Veronica Glover is a former Crescent City High School history teacher who played a role in planning Juneteenth. She said turnout has increased since 2012. She said teaching the holiday to the next generation of black students was much needed.
“It needs to be observed. The children need to be educated (about Juneteenth),” Glover said.
She said the teaching of Juneteenth in textbooks should be more commonplace.
“It’s another moment of lost history for black Americans and young African-American children,” Glover said.