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Lanett – On Monday morning at the Lanett Senior Center, Greater Valley Juneteenth Committee Chair Trudye Johnson encouraged Lanett seniors to come out and take part in this year’s Juneteenth celebration. It’s a city holiday in Lanett, and a celebration will be taking place on the playground and streets near W.O. Lance Elementary School. Live music will be performed, pop-up tents will be set up where people can cool off from the heat and refreshments will be served. Food trucks will be there along with jumpers for the kids and a rock-climbing tower.

Johnson told the seniors that her great-grandfather was freed from slavery during his lifetime and may have experienced the same joy that came to the African-American residents of Galveston, Texas when they were told on June 19, 1865, that they were now free.

The name Juneteenth is derived by linking the words June and Nineteenth as a way of remembering the day that one of the last places received word that slavery had been abolished in the United States. As a military measure in the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln announced that slavery was illegal in any state that had seceded from the Union. This allowed the Union army to set slaves free in areas of the South they controlled during the war.

Slavery was formally abolished in the U.S. with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution on December 6, 1865. Involuntary servitude was permitted for those who had been convicted of crimes and were serving sentences.

Today, Juneteenth is a national holiday to acknowledge the end of slavery, honor the struggle for freedom and reflect on the ongoing impact of racial justice.

Juneteenth has been a federal holiday since 2021 and is now recognized as a state holiday in Alabama and Georgia.

This year marks the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth and the fourteenth year it has been observed in the local area. Johnson credited Dr. Randy B. Kelley, who was then the pastor of Goodsell Methodist Church in Lanett, for getting things rolling in 2011. A Greater Valley Area Juneteenth Committee organizes a community-wide celebration each year.

“Juneteenth is a special day for all of us, not just people of color,” Johnson said. “Freedom is something we all cherish. We all felt that on our Freedom Walk on Sunday, June 1 from John Hoggs Park in West Point to Lanett City Hall. We want to continue that at our community festival in Lanett this coming Thursday. We will have live music ranging from gospel to rhythm and blues to contemporary. There will be something for everyone that day. We want people to come out and enjoy it.”

The Greater Valley Juneteenth community festival will be from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., and will conclude with a fireworks display on the Lanett Mill site at dusk. Free hot dogs will be available for children from 5:00 to 6:00 pm provided by Masonic Lodge 876 and Lodge 33. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Just come, bring a chair and a bottle of water,” Johnson said. “There will be plenty of food, refreshments, ice cream and snow cones. The Lanett Fire Department will be there to cool off the kids with water spray.”

There will be raffles during the afternoon. One of the prizes to be given away will be a big-screen TV.

The Juneteenth Committee would like to recognize a local teacher and civic activist with a memorial scholarship. The late Essie Mae Harris was a kind, benevolent person who helped raise money for causes such as Valley Haven School and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Johnson remembers Harris as a tough but effective math teacher, first at Lanier High and later on at Lanett High.

“I can remember her walking from her home in West Shawmut to teach at Lanier High,” Johnson said. “She was tough, but you learned in her class. She was a wonderful person who helped so many people. We would like to carry on her legacy by having a scholarship named for her.”

“I would like to see you there on Thursday for our community celebration,” Johnson said. “Juneteenth is such a good holiday. Its official colors are red, white and blue, just like in the American flag.”