Garner Juneteenth Celebration Coming to GPAC June 21st

The Town of Garner and Garner Juneteenth Committee will present the annual Garner Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 21, at 11 a.m. at Garner Performing Arts Center (742 W. Garner Road).

This free event will feature local choirs, dance and narrative interwoven with documentary-style video segments that explore various aspects of Garner's history through the recollections of those who lived it. Congresswoman Deborah Ross and Mayor Buddy Gupton will make remarks as well.

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History and Background

Galveston 1865

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.

However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

In the early years

Little interest existed outside the African American community in participation in the celebrations. In some cases, there was outwardly exhibited resistance by barring the use of public property for the festivities.

Most of the festivities found themselves out in rural areas around rivers and creeks that could provide for additional activities such as fishing, horseback riding and barbecues. Often church grounds were the site for such activities.

Eventually, as African Americans became landowners, land was donated and dedicated for these festivities. One of the earliest documented land purchases in the name of Juneteenth was organized by Rev. Jack Yates.

Mayor Marshburn Proclaims June 19 ‘Juneteenth—Freedom Day’

Proclamation presented by Mayor Ken Marshburn on June 7, 2021:

WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate-controlled territory free and paving the way for passage of the 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States; and

WHEREAS, enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed by up to almost two and a half years in some Confederate territory, and by more than two years in the area that would become Garner; and

WHEREAS, on June 19, 1865, Union Major-General Gordon Granger read to the people of Galveston, Texas, General Order No. 3, which stated:

Mayor Marshburn presents Juneteenth proclamation to Town Manager Rodney Dickerson (right) and Council Member Demian Dellinger (left), who were representing Garner's Juneteenth Committee.

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves”; and

WHEREAS, June 19th thus has acquired special meaning, and is called Juneteenth, combining the words June and nineteenth, and has been celebrated as Freedom Day by many African Americans for over 150 years; and

WHEREAS, in Wake County, there were more than 10,000 enslaved people—nearly two-fifths of the county’s population—recorded in the 1860 Census; and

WHEREAS, these citizens contributed greatly to the prosperity and development of the area that would become Garner both during their enslavement and after they were freed; and

WHEREAS, like enslaved African Americans in Texas, enslaved people in Wake County, including in the area that would become Garner, were not liberated until after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union troops in Appomattox, Virginia, which occurred in April 1865; and

WHEREAS, the creation of a Garner Juneteenth Committee was authorized by this Town Council to raise awareness about Juneteenth and about other relevant information that places Juneteenth in historical context; and

WHEREAS, the United States celebrates its freedom from tyranny on July 4, 1776, but we acknowledge that not all Americans were free on that day; therefore, Juneteenth should be celebrated alongside July 4th Independence Day and not in lieu of it.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Ken Marshburn, Mayor of the Town of Garner, do hereby proclaim June 19, 2021, as

Juneteenth—Freedom Da