CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Face painting, food, entertainment and more made up the 1st Annual Juneteenth Celebration in Charleston — one of the many events hosted by FestivALL this week.
The event, sponsored by the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, was held Monday afternoon at the Charleston Municipal Auditorium.
“We have somebody who is going to be doing singing because that’s part of the African American tradition, so we have the MLK Choir and we have Unity in the Community and some little ones who are going to be doing some dancing,” said William White, executive director of HHOMA.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery.
White said the event promotes diversity.
“It’s a wonderful experience to be able to do something like this because what we have is people from all different backgrounds who value each other and who understand what it means to be a West Virginian no matter what you’re background is,” he said.
Booths were set up inside the Municipal Auditorium including one that offered health screenings for guests.
“One of the problems that we have in the African American community, and probably in a lot of poor communities in West Virginia, is that people don’t go to the doctor, so we’re going to do some health screenings to help folks figure out if there is something with them and refer them to the hospitals or doctors,” White said.
The partnership with FestivALL will help spread the word about the importance of the Juneteenth holiday, White said.
“We will have a lot more exposure,” he said. “We’re not people who put on festivals, so we know what we want to do, but they help us a lot in making it professional.”
The Juneteenth headliner was Step Afrika! — a dance company from Washington, D.C. Other acts included Jean English from Harlem Heights, the W3 Dancers, DJ Woody Woods from 98.7 The Beat, games and more.
Governor Jim Justice signed a proclamation Monday announcing June 19 as Juneteenth Day in West Virginia.