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On June 19, the community can celebrate Juneteenth at the Scottsboro Boys Museum.

Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger traveled to Galveston, Texas and enforced the Emancipation Proclamation to the last-remaining slaves of the United States. First celebrated annually at small churches in Texas, Juneteenth quickly spread throughout the South.  

One-hundred fifty-six years later, Juneteenth became a federal holiday. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. The act established June 19 as a legal public holiday nation-wide.

“For the Juneteenth program, we will revive a lighting ceremony tradition started by Shelia Washington,” said Dr. Thomas Reidy, Executive Director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum. “Nine local teenagers will light a candle in remembrance of the nine Scottsboro Boys.”

The Scottsboro Boys were unjustly imprisoned without due process in the 1930s. Freedom was something many of them did not get to celebrate. It’s a court case that brought a lot of negative press to the city of Scottsboro and Jackson County. 

“Instead of sighing and being ashamed of being from here, we need to say ‘yes, that happened and it was horrible but it’s in the past. Scottsboro has come so far.’ If we keep hiding under a blanket of shamefulness, the story never gets told,” said Carla Santibanez of the Scottsboro Boys Museum.

Mary Elliott, Curator of American Slavery at the National Museum of African American Culture, once said, “Juneteeth is important because it reminds us of what we came through and what we can achieve.”

 All are invited to celebrate this historical day of freedom and to remember and honor those who did not get to experience that freedom. There will be speakers and also live music provided by award-winning saxophonist, Alex Banks. The program will begin at noon. For more information, please call 256-912-0471.