Juneteenth Celebrated at Wright
- thewrighttimes
- 5 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Juneteenth was celebrated on the 18th at Wilbur Wright with food, music, and an energy that encouraged us all to reflect and appreciate how far the community has come. Students were not just learning about the history but also experiencing the culture. Students tried red velvet cake, watermelon, cucumber mint salad, and barbecue chicken wings. Many conversations were held about how everyone attending first learned about Juneteenth.
Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved Americans free. It wasn’t until Jun. 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger and 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. After 155 years, their victory became a federal holiday.
Some event attendees learned about Juneteenth through the celebration, Starsheena Anderson shared, “We had a barbecue at the college and a lot of people didn’t know what it was, that's kinda what triggered me to go down the rabbit hole and study”. Ethan Ocana, the brother of Christian Ocana, recounted, "I learned about it at the previous Juneteenth celebration.
