MATTHEWS RECOGNIZES JUNETEENTH

The Matthews Board of Commissioners issued a proclamation recognizing the importance of the Juneteeneth holiday during their regular meeting on June 12. The proclamation, read aloud by Mayor Higdon, was presented to Matthews Cultural Diversity Committee (CDC) members Natisha Rivera-Patrick and Sandra Conway.

The Town will celebrate Juneteenth with an event at Stumptown Park on Monday, June 19. The festivities begin at 4:30 pm and a jazz concert performance with Buff Dillard will begin at 6:00 pm. The Juneteenth celebration will feature poetry, song, dance, art, kids activities, and food trucks Dliciousfoods313, A Pinch of Soul and Frozen Kups.

ABOUT JUNETEENTH: Juneteenth celebrates when freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops took control of the state and ensured that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth” by the newly freed people in Texas. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.