Enslaved people in Florida first learned they were free on May 20, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This year’s local commemorations are already underway.
On Saturday, the city hosted an event at a community center in South City. On hand was First Sergeant H.L. Williams of Buffalo Soldiers Florida. He was showing artifacts and explaining the role of Black soldiers in the American military.
“Well, the thing about this is, if you don’t know where you come from or don’t know where you’re going, you will repeat some of the same things you’ve done before,” he said. “I don’t want to repeat. No, ma’am.”
This coming Friday, the Adderley Amphitheater will host the “Freedom’s Eve” concert at Cascades Park. On Saturday, church bells will ring for two minutes and schoolchildren will decorate the graves of Black Civil War soldiers. The Knott House — where the Emancipation Proclamation was first read in Florida — will stage a dramatic reading.
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