Addie Lynn sings “Lift Every Voice,” during a gospel concert at City Park. Staff photos by Michael Schweitzer.
Despite a few raindrops and persistent overcast skies, hundreds of Manhattan residents came out this weekend to take part in an annual tradition in celebration of hope and freedom: the city’s 20th annual Juneteenth celebration.
The event, which officially kicked off during a two-hour Gospel Fest Friday evening in City Park, is one of many such celebrations held around the country — though its roots stem from an event that took place in one Southern sea-side community nearly 145 years ago.
Celebrating freedom and the ending of slavery in America, Juneteenth commemorates the day when residents of Galveston, Texas, first learned about President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865 — a full two and a half years after the ground-breaking address had actually been made.
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