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Community leaders gathered Thursday morning at the Madison County Public Library to formally announce the third annual Juneteenth Freedom 5K.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States on June 19th, 1865. It was on this day when the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered during the final days of the American Civil War. Now, 160 years later, Madison Countians will run or walk in the Freedom 5K – an event that draws parallels to historical instances of African-Americans seeking refuge from slave owners.

“These individuals that were self-emanicpating were walking and running”, Judy Greene-Baker tells WBON. “So, how do we in today’s society walk and run? We can do that with a 5K.”

Judy Greene-Baker is the President of Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery, an organization that provides care and maintenance to Richmond’s largest African-American cemetery. Greene-Baker was also the quilter of the blanket that served as the backdrop for the announcement. She tells us that patterns like the ones she used when quilting the blanket were used by African-Americans to help identify safe places and routes on their way to the North.

“Each of the blocks has a specific meaning… Someone on the plantation, usually an older senior citizen… they would be quilting for the main house. When they would get little scraps of fabric, they would start putting together a quilt that looks like something that you see hanging.”

The third annual Juneteenth Freedom 5K is scheduled to begin at 8:00AM on June 28th at the White Hall State Historic Site. This location was chosen because it was the family home of Cassius Clay, the son of one of the wealthiest slave owners in Kentucky who later became a prominent supporter of the American abolitionist movement.

Proceeds from the event will benefit three area charities — the Maurice Hibbard Non-Traditional Scholarship, the Friends of the Maple Grove Cemetery, and the New Liberty Family Shelter. Participants can sign up for the 2025 Freedom 5K online at the Richmond Madison County NAACP’s RunSignup page.