Pictured are Frances Caldwell, executive director of the Cleveland African-American Museum, and Cleveland activist Don Freeman, the retired director of the League Park Center in Cleveland
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, also the most read in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-The African-American Museum of Cleveland will host a Juneteenth celebration on Sat., June 20, 2020 beginning at noon at the museum at 1765 Crawford road in Cleveland's Ward 7 on the city's largely Black east side.
Cleveland activist Don Freeman, a retired director of the League Park Center in Cleveland and an activist, is the keynote speaker at 2 pm and a question and answer session on the state of affairs of Cleveland's Black community will follow.
Contact the museum at (216) 721-6555 for more information.
The event is free and open to the public.
The community event will also feature museum artifacts, and an array of speakers.
Food and other vendors will be on hand, organizers said, and free light refreshments will be served.
Juneteenth is an unofficial holiday primarily for African -Americans and an official Texas state holiday, celebrated annually on the 19th of June in the United States to commemorate Union army general Gordon Granger's reading of federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming all slaves in Texas were now free.
In actuality, slavery in the United States did not officially end until the ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States on December 6, 1865, which had abolished slavery entirely in all of the states and territories
A common misconception is that this day marks the end of slavery in the United States, although this day marks the emancipation of all slaves in the Confederacy, the institution of slavery was still legal and existed in the Union border states after June 19, 1865.
"We invite everybody to celebrate Juneteenth with us at the African -American museum in Cleveland as we expound upon the relevance and contributions of our African ancestors and African-Americans in American history," said museum executive director Frances Caldwell, also a community activist.
Founded by the late Icabod Flewellen in 1953, the African-American museum in Cleveland, which is governed by a six-member board, became the first independent African American museum to open in America.
It is a nonprofit cultural and educational museum that aims to share the achievements of African -Americans and their ancestors and to educate people on the struggles and achievements of Black people in Cleveland and nationwide.
A largely Black major American city, Cleveland has a legacy of Black history from congress persons to mayors, judges, famous Black clergy, and sports figures, writers, actors, historians, inventors, scientists, and the list goes on.
This includes the late Carl B. Stokes, who made history in 1967 when he was elected the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city, and his late older brother Louis Stokes, the first Black congressman from Ohio.
Garrett Morgan was a native of Cleveland who invented the traffic light and gas mask, and the late famed writer Langston Hughes graduated from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
A host of other local Blacks have also contributed to the city's historical-makeup and have paved the way for Black success and enfranchisement in Cleveland and nationwide.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, also the most read in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
