Putnam celebrates Juneteenth | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

A local group hosted the river’s first Juneteenth celebration on Wednesday to share the history behind the holiday while celebrating local youth who excelled in school.

Members of the African American Arts Council of Putnam County organized Jubilee on the St. Johns River to commemorate the federal holiday that celebrates the anniversary of June 19, 1865, the day the last enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, were declared to be free.

“It was two and a half years later that they found out because we know that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863,” said City Council Vice President Pamela Brown. “So we celebrate Juneteenth and the freedoms we have in this country that so many Texans didn’t know they had (until) June 19, 1865.”

A museum dedicated to Juneteenth will soon open in Fort Worth, Texas, and Brown hopes to visit. The facility is expected to open in 2026, according to the National Juneteenth Museum website.

According to the museum, Texas was the first state to declare Juneteenth a national holiday in 1980. President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law in 2021, declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Putnam County language arts teacher Erica Robinson made sure Palatka’s Juneteenth celebration was present, but she wished more people had shown up.

“They can come out and learn from this,” she said.

Palatka’s celebration included music, food trucks, bounce houses for children, line dancing, speakers and a scholarship presentation for four recent graduates from Putnam County schools.

Each graduate received $250 from the arts council for their hard work and outstanding academic performance. Chloe Dasher, a graduate of Palatka Junior-Senior High School, a student-athlete who graduated college with an associate degree from St. Johns River State College and a 4.4 high school GPA, will attend Spelman College in Georgia .

Palatka High Class President Amaris Mack, another student-athlete, graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA and plans to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

Palatka High graduate Ymira Passmore also received a scholarship. She graduated with a 4.3 GPA and plans to attend the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

The final recipient was Trenton Williams, who graduated from QI Roberts Junior-Senior High School with a 4.3 GPA but played sports at Palatka High. He plans to attend the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Despite the accolades and cheers, the Juneteenth celebration was not as well attended as other riverfront events. Robinson said she wishes everyone had shown up to learn about the culture and history behind Juneteenth because it is not taught in schools.

She hopes the event will grow as more people learn about the holiday and decide to celebrate it. Although this is the first year of the Juneteenth event on the river, organizers said they plan to continue the anniversary on June 19 every year.

“This is so important because today is really about the suffering, contributions and struggles of our ancestors dating back to 1865,” Robinson said. “As a teacher, I only learned about Juneteenth two years ago and it’s sad.”