Reaves Park is the place to be Wednesday for a night of celebration and community as the fourth annual Juneteenth festival kicks off to celebrate diversity and inclusion in Norman.
The event starts 6 p.m. and will include vendors, games, food trucks, education, live entertainment, fireworks and guest speakers.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when U.S. Army troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of the war and that the slaves were free. The announcement came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared enslaved people free on Jan. 1, 1863.
Norman Juneteenth Project Coordinator Tyra Jackson said while the event is there to celebrate Black culture, one goal is to bring people of many different backgrounds together to celebrate the holiday and show that our differences can also bring us together.
“When we come together in this way, our experiences are mirrors and windows for other people,” Jackson said. “So not only do you get to know what my interest and issues are as an individual, I get to know about the interests and obstacles that affect you and your community.”
Jackson says the event is also there to bring the community out to a safe space that everyone in the family can enjoy.
“We are bringing together family-friendly activities,” Jackson said. “We are trying to combine family-friendly activities to celebrate Black culture.”
Kendall Hendricks, co-CEO of the nonprofit 2gether We Will, said it is an important event to have in Norman due to the history of the Black experience in Norman over the years.
“One important thing about this being in Norman is that a lot of people do know and don’t knew that Norman was sundown town at one point,” Hendricks said. “And the fact that we are doing something of this magnitude is showing that there is growth and we have come a long way. And we still have a ways to go, but there is growth there and there are things that we can do to keep that going.”
Sam Woodfork, co-CEO of the 2gether We Will, said he hopes the festival can be seen as a celebration of culture.
“We just plan on it being a constant celebration of Black culture and Black excellence that is going to continue on for our community for generations,” Woodfork said.
During the festival there will also be an award ceremony to honor those that are working to make the community a better place.
“This is our inaugural Dr. George & Barbara Henderson Community Pillar Awards,” Jackson said. “And that award is given to folks that are doing great things in the community based on innovation and entrepreneurship”
Jackson hopes that things like the awards being added to the festival helps the event continue to grow and educate the community about inclusivity and understanding.
“The angle of that growth is to continue the education of not only what Juneteenth is as a historical event,” Jackson said, “but also how we continue to grow and better our community together. So the festival is a means to an end when it comes to unity of the community and celebrating one another.”
Woodfork says the festival is an important event so people can learn how to understand one another and get along.
“It’s bringing different cultures and communities of different background and gives them a chance to get to know each other,” Woodfork said. “To understand where people are coming from and where they are going also builds the community in itself.”
“This is community that loves to come together. And we will come together and we are going to get to know each other because the more we get to know each other, the better we grow and the better we are going to be as a community.”
Everyone from Norman and the surrounding communities is encouraged to attend and bring a lawn chair. Hendricks emphasized that while Juneteenth celebration is a family-friendly event, it is also to highlight the cultural and historic value.
“It’s very important for us to come out in the community and let the everyone know there is a presence of Black culture here and to educate people on that,” Hendricks said. “It is very important for us to stick with community and inclusion just to bring us all together as a community and show people that this is Oklahoma and we are one.”