Juneteenth activities planned

Cameron’s Juneteenth Celebration will be held June 18 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with several events throughout the day.

The event is sponsored by O.J Thomas Alumni and the Juneteenth Celebration Committee. 

There will be a parade at 10 a.m. It will begin on MLK in front of the O.J. Thomas School and travel down 6th Street to Crockett and move on to 12th Street and end at the park.

All other activities will be held at 12th Street Park including music, arts, food trucks and games for all.

A presentation of “Voices of Our Elders” along with a speaker will begin events at the park. The speaker will talk about the importance of freedom and read the Emancipation Proclamation.

There will be a DJ on hand for live music and several games and sports available for everyone as well as bounce houses and face painting. Ten food trucks and various vendors will also be at the event.

The event is open to the community.

Juneteenth is a celebration marking an end of slavery in the United States. Though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, very few people were immediately freed. A full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and too long months after Richmond fell, the last enslaved African American in Tess were pronounced free people. That momentous date, June 19, 1865, has been proclaimed Juneteenth and celebrated annually ever since.