BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey
June 19, 2022
The people 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 the connection heretofore existing between them, become that between employer and hired labor. The freed are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.General Order # 3 the official day of celebration of Juneteenth which commemorates the emancipation of black, enslaved Americans in the United States.
General Order No. 3 – Union General Gordon Granger, June 19, 1865
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER
Under the shade of an old southern oak in the backyard of the African American Club of West Pasco, Michelle Livingston took the microphone to read the words above spoken 157 years ago by Union General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas.
The reading of General Order No. 3, which came over two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, brought the overdue news that some 250,000 slaves were free in Texas by national decree, sparking a celebration that has since endured in the black community.
Also referred to as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas in 1980 with some other states following and was declared a federal holiday by President Biden in June 2021.
Julia Paul, the founder of End Recidivism Project Extreme, hosted the Unity in the Community Juneteenth Celebration in Sims Park. The event featured dance, poetry on stage, some 30 vendors and local service organizations, and food including some savory barbeque offerings.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER
There was a church picnic kind of feel at the renovated historic Booker T. Washington School that houses the African American Club of Pasco in Port Richey. There, folks lined up for barbeque while being serenaded by the founder and pastor of Courts of Praise Deliverance Ministries, Dell O. Barnes of Brooksville, who was playing his tenor saxophone. The event also featured historical presentations, music, dance and several vendors and local service organizations.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER
Some local dignitaries attended as well. New Port Richey Mayor Rob Marlowe and NPR City Manager Debbie Manns, and New Port Richey Police Chief Kim Bogart attended both events. Prior to event, on June 7, NPR Mayor Rob Marlowe presented the African American Club of Pasco with a Juneteenth Proclamation during the City Council Meeting.
U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis (District 12) stopped by the AAC event. Former county commissioner candidate, Brandi Geoit was there throughout the day to represent the Democratic Party, promote voter registration and share information about the Lift Up Pasco Schools initiative supporting teacher pay raises at the ballot box prior to the August 23 primary election.
References
Juneteenth. govinfo.gov
The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth, Smithsonian Institute
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