CLEVELAND — The Karamu House in Cleveland is celebrating Juneteenth with a special performance, titled "Freedom on Juneteenth." A fitting name as Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in America.
Juneteenth, a combination of the words June and nineteenth, marks June 19, 1865. That's the day slaves in Texas received word of their freedom over two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves.
"It's the official acknowledgement that slavery was over in this country," says Tony F. Sias, President & CEO of Karamu House. "It's a time when a culture of people who have continuously had barriers in front of them to know that two and a half years after a law had been passed, that they had continuously been enslaved."
Sias conceptualized and directed ""Freedom on Juneteenth," which is advertised as an "artistic response to the recent murders of Black Americans through music, spoken word and dance."
The hour-long production will be available for viewing on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Roku and Fire TV on Friday, June 19 at 7 p.m. A 30-minute interactive panel discussion on the Black Lives Matter Movement will follow the performances.
Panelists include: Dr. Edward M. Barksdale Jr. of University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's, Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon from the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals and youth activist Chenoa Miller. City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop will moderate the discussion.
Sias says Juneteenth celebrations should include education.
"In terms of educating the community about what happened in that two and a half year window, the importance of what happened after June 19, 1865 and as well to come together to understand the African American culture, our historical trajectory from then to now and to allow community as a whole to better understand who we are and our contributions to this country."
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