The Delaware Juneteenth Association holds a Juneteenth observance celebration and worship service.
“We cannot allow holidays to appease us," says guest pastor Dr. J Wendell Mapson Jr. "We cannot allow holidays to keep us quiet. We need some trouble.”
That was Mapson's message to community and church members along with elected officials on Juneteenth at Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church.
The congregation paid tribute to ancestors and celebrated the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston, Texas, and the last of America’s slaves were freed.
But Mapson also says that their fight for freedom is not over, and warned of people in power actively working to repeal civil rights.
Association President Styna LeCompte says they hold events all month long to celebrate their history, and continue to educate young people on the importance of Juneteenth.
“With them not learning Black history in the schools, we need to bring that forth," LeCompte says. "And they need to hear it from someone on the ground level. We can break it down, enforce it, and get them to understand and find out the importance. And they learn where they come from, and we can be an example for our young people.”
Delaware Juneteenth Association co-founder and treasurer Sandy Clark says there were celebrations in Galveston when the news was delivered, and they continue that tradition.
“There were celebrations, there were parades, there were cookouts, and most of all there were religious observances," Clark says. "And that’s what this is, that’s what we do. And so with that said, the message will be, definitely come forth about our freedom.”
The Association holds one final celebration – the Juneteenth Pageant – on June 29 at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington.
