By Rebecca J. Barnabi
For Augusta Free Press
The River City’s first celebration of Juneteenth was held at Ridgeview Park on Sunday and organized by the Waynesboro branch of the NAACP.
Dr. Amy Tillerson-Brown, professor of history at Mary Baldwin University and named dean of the university’s College for Women in January, provided historical background about the event for the community that gathered on a cool summer afternoon.
On June 19, 1865, black Americans were notified in Galveston, Texas, by Union General Gordon Granger of the end of the American Civil War, and “got word that they were henceforth and forever free,” Tillerson-Brown said.
Juneteenth was made a federal holiday last year.
“I think it’s a call for us to agitate even more,” Tillerson-Brown said. When Americans stormed the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they were agitating the system. “I believe history will remember 2020 similar to how they do 1919,” she said, referring to peaceful protests by Black Americans which were organized in response to white-on-black violence that came to be known as the Red Summer. “And that’s the reason we celebrate today.”
Tillerson-Brown said that Black Americans have come a long way.
“But we’ve got a very long way to go.”
Joe Pettus played guitar and sang for the crowd a few times. He said he started playing guitar when he was a little boy. He’s been playing for 60 years, NAACP President Joyce Colemon said. He performs Friday nights at Green Leaf Grill in downtown Waynesboro.
“We’re much alive today,” Pettus said. “This is a great day.” At the end of Sunday’s celebration, Pettus sang hymnals for the lingering crowd.
Alice Woods has lived in Staunton for 36 years. A candidate for Staunton City Council in November’s election, Woods said she attended Saturday’s 6th Annual Shenandoah Valley Juneteenth Celebration at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton.
“And then we came to support our city community [today],” Woods said of Waynesboro’s celebration. She added that Juneteenth is about getting together as a community no matter gender or ethnicity.
She said that Sunday was “just awesome. This is the day that we give celebration to our freedom as African-Americans.”
However, sometimes Black Americans still wonder: “Are we free?” While their ancestors were legally freed from the bonds of slavery in 1865, sometimes the fight for freedom must still be fought. “Nothing can hold us back, because, if you believe it in your heart, you’re free,” Woods said. “We weren’t created to be slaves but we were slaves.”
“Our ancestors made it through by the grace of God. I’m a firm believer. And that’s why you’ll find many African-Americans in the church,” Woods said. A belief in God and singing songs of Zion enabled Black American to survive the hardships of slavery before 1865. “We’ve come a long way, but we have a ways to go.”
Woods said that God keeps black Americans sane amidst the continued struggle for racial equality in the United States.
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Rebecca Barnabi
