Photo courtesy of Cherinita Ladd-Reese
The African Dance and Drum Ensemble performs at a Juneteenth celebration at Veterans Park in Hoover in June 2022.
Hoover-AHEAD (Ambassadors for Hoover Equity and Diversity) will hold its third annual Juneteenth celebration June 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Hoover Public Library.
The event will include activities from storytelling to kids’ arts and crafts and film screenings. An African dance troupe and local choirs will perform, and food trucks will be on site.
Juneteenth — observed officially on June 19 — celebrates the day when 250,000 enslaved African Americans were given their freedom in Texas. The decree brought by Union troops on June 19, 1865 — 2½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation — freed the last slaves still held in Confederate territory.
“I grew up in Oklahoma, and out there Juneteenth is a fact of life and always celebrated,” said Withrow Newell, ambassador and event committee chair for Hoover-AHEAD, which was founded in 2019. “But coming to the Deep South, it’s surprising a lot of people don’t know about Juneteenth. It’s such a beautiful and truly American story.”
He said the day celebrates “that pure joy people probably felt not only knowing bondage is over, but bondage has been over.”
The event fits with Hoover-AHEAD’s goals of celebrating different cultures and promoting racial equity and inclusion, Newell said. “With the Juneteenth celebration, we’re hoping to continue to produce an event that brings the community together and offer an opportunity to learn about each other’s cultures.”
The celebration is free, and everyone is welcome. For more information, visit hoover-ahead.com/events/hoover-ahead-events/juneteenth-2023 or visit the group’s Facebook page. A calendar of other upcoming cultural events is also available on the group’s website.
