5th annual Juneteenth celebration brings dance, music, history to Monument Park

The fifth annual local celebration of Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, was held Saturday, June 21, at Lebanon’s Monument Park.

Organizer Taelor Norwood said the local observance has grown from being a backyard celebration to an organized event with collaboration from local organizations and businesses, with a focus on education and sharing culture.

Juneteenth, which became a national holiday in 2021, has been celebrated by Black communities since 1866. Norwood noted that growing up in Philadelphia, her community celebrated with baseball games and barbecues.

It celebrates the day, June 19, 1865, Union soldiers led by General Gordon Granger brought word of the Emancipation Proclamation to Texas, over two years after it took effect (as Texas remained a Confederate stronghold throughout the Civil War).

“Out in Texas, small groups of free Africans, previously enslaved individuals, they started to celebrate the day that gentleman came and shared that knowledge,” explained Norwood. “A lot of people outside of Black communities didn’t know about June 19th.

The local celebration focuses on sharing information and community with those both within and outside of the Black community.

“I personally celebrate it because of the importance of sharing information and sharing culture,” added Norwood. “In the Black community, Juneteenth is a very special day, to some it’s very sacred, because it just signifies the day that all of our ancestors were free from slavery. Unfortunately a lot of that information was withheld from those people who were enslaved because those slave masters wanted another harvest.”

The celebration was held on the 21st because, as Norwood explained, the people she has talked to about the event typically had more weekend availability.

“I believe in giving people what they want, not what I feel they want,” she said, noting that many changes made to the celebration over the last five years have been made directly in response to feedback from the community.

The celebration, hosted by the Lebanon County NAACP, included an African dance workshop, raffle, and jazz quartet, as well as food, cool drinks, and games for attendees.

Lark Daniel, who led the dance workshop, said she appreciated the community participation and willingness to learn traditional African dances and songs.

She said the day was enjoyable and serene, and that attendees were “all sorts of people, all different cultures, coming together and being brave enough and willing to share West African dance, art, culture.”

Stakes planted throughout the park containing dates explained the timeline of Black rights in the U.S., from the days of slavery to Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. Posters and graphics also provided background on the holiday and Black history.

Norwood spoke about the importance of Black culture and lived experiences being understood alongside historic events.

“Culture is something that is closer to the source, because history is often written by the victors,” she said. “Culture is closer to the truth of what life was like; we all have a shared world history, but culture is very specific, and more personal. It’s important that people who are of African descent, that we talk about our history. It’s really important that we are the ones telling our story, because it’s our story.”

Norwood cited the need for solidarity between Americans of different races and backgrounds, noting that the local Juneteenth celebrations have been supported by those outside of the Black community as well.

“We profit when we are all working together,” said Norwood. “Not working to keep each other down: de-siloing the information, saying ‘this is what happened, this is why it was not okay, but we can celebrate that.'”

Norwood thanked local businesses and organizations for their help, from Sheetz, which donated water, cookies, and sandwiches, to St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, which lent chairs and tables. Organizations including the Boy Scouts of America and the NAACP set up at the park to provide more information to attendees.

“It’s about our shared community, it’s about love for self and our community,” said Norwood. “We are so much better, so much stronger, when we are working together and when we’re celebrating each other.”