Juneteenth Photos – City of Georgetown Texas
The 59th annual Juneteenth celebration in Georgetown at the Community Center attracted about 100 people to a program, lunch, and afternoon activities.
The annual event is sponsored by the Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association.
The program included a proclamation by Georgetown Mayor George Garver and a talk on the history of the Juneteenth holiday by David Ross (pictured at right), chief of police at Fort Hood Army post in Killeen.
Juneteenth marks the day on June 19, 1865 when Union soldiers landed at Galveston and reported that the Civil War was over and slavery had ended. The Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves had been in effect since January 1, 1863, but word did not reach Texas for more than two years. Juneteenth was declared an official state holiday in Texas in 1980.
The Juneteenth event in Georgetown also featured the “Little Misses of Distinction.” These eight girls ages 7 through 11 (pictured below) attended a two-day workshop last week at the Willie Hall Center in which they learned skills in public speaking and presentation and worked on character-building exercises. The workshop was organized by Georgetown resident Paulette Taylor.
After lunch, local portrait artist Tracey Brumbaugh (pictured below) did a performance piece that served as a fundraiser for a local church.
