The Sewickley Community Center is proud to present its 3rd annual Juneteenth Celebration, June 23, 2012. Please join us as we celebrate freedom and equality.
ADMISSION IS FREE for all events except the pancake breakfast.
Sewickley Community Center
15 Chadwick Street, Sewickley, Pennsylvania
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Events and Activities
Morning Activities
Pancake Breakfast*—per person fee to attend (9 am)---by the Daniel B. Matthews Historical Society
Book Panel Discussion—The Help (10 am)---Moderated by Jonelle Henry of CSPAN
Afternoon Activities
Community Leaders Meet and Greet Reception (12 pm)---Meet local civic leaders and politicians
Pool Opens—Free Swim (12:30 pm)---The 2012 pool season officially opens at the SCC
Juneteenth Reenactment (12:30 pm)
- USCT Fife and Drum Corps---Enjoy a Drum and Fife Corps re-enactment
- “Abraham Lincoln” Reads the Emancipation Proclamation
- Martin Robison Delany
- Historical Commentary on Thaddeus Stevens
Afternoon Entertainment
Betty Douglas, Marianne Pratt, Common Ground, Christian Lighthouse, Church in the Round, Church of God & Christ Praise Dance, Roland Ford, and more!
Afternoon Classes and Seminars
Qigong, Community Gardening, Breast Cancer Awareness, Guided Writing, Historical Seminars, and more!
Evening Activities
Kick Ball Tournament (6 pm)
Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to take possession of the state and enforce the abolition of slavery. On June 19, 1865, while standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, General Granger read the contents of "General Order No. 3.":
The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
Jubilant celebrations followed the announcement, with commemorative events beginning the following year. Today, Juneteenth is celebrated throughout the United States.
