Citizens across the country hosted Juneteenth events last weekend to celebrate Black history and the end of slavery in the U.S., and on Saturday, the Hopkinsville-Christian County Visitors Bureau was filled with folks celebrating the holiday.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that the over 250,000 slaves in the state were freed by an executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Hopkinsville Juneteenth Committee and Visit Hopkinsville collaborated to host Jazzing for Juneteenth. This was the first time the local Juneteenth celebration was hosted at the visitors bureau, and both Visit Hopkinsville Executive Director Amy Rogers and Juneteenth Committee Member Bonnie Lynch were impressed with the venue change and the event’s turnout.
At Jazzing for Juneteenth, attendees enjoyed local flavors from food trucks, shopped at merchandise vendors, listened to live music by singer Tina Brown and learned about the significance of Juneteenth and music in Black history with Trevor Hooks. Lynch shared that the committee presented $500 academic scholarships to high school graduates. She says one of the recipients will attend the University of Louisville, and the other will attend Western Kentucky University.
Along with all the fun, Rogers says the event was a chance to inform the community about Juneteenth, one of the most important events in African-American history.
The pair both look forward to bringing the celebration back to the visitors bureau next year.