Story and Photos by Cary Griffin, Forney Messenger

Last Friday, the Community Education Forum, Inc. hosted Forney’s eighth annual Juneteenth celebration on a tree-filled corner lot on Buffalo Street.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day word of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation reached African-American slaves in Texas two months after the Proclamation’s issuance at the end of the Civil War. The celebration, which is often marked with speeches, religious services, picnics and other events, has spread from Texas to a number of other states, although it is not yet recognized as a state or national holiday.

The Juneteenth celebration last Friday in Forney began around 5 p. m. with opening remarks by Mistress of Ceremonies Deborah Haynes of Mesquite, a member of the Community Education Forum. The opening was followed by a prayer of invocation by Forney resident and Baptist minister Tony Jackson. Mamie Spencer of Wills Point gave the welcome.

The opening ceremonies were followed by all attendees standing and singing the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice.”

The first speaker on the program was Robbie Powers, a member of the Forney City Council, who gave a history of African-Americans’ quest for freedom and equality beginning with the issuance of Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in 1852. In her talk, Ms. Powers made note of the restrictions that were put in the way of African-American civil rights, including the “black codes”. She also noted that African-Americans didn’t gain their citizenship until the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, stating that even after that, Jim Crow laws continued to fetter African-Americans in their search for equality right up through 1890. There were Jim Crow laws in many states, but they were more harshly enforced in the South.

Mrs. Powers said that the modern civil rights movement did not begin with Rosa Parks as it is popularly believed. The movement was really sparked by the slaying of an African-American teenager, Emmitt Teel, who whistled at a white girl while innocently responding to a dare during a visit to a Southern state from Chicago in 1955, several months before the Rosa Parks incident. Teel’s mother responded to the killing of her son by launching what would become the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Toward the close of her talk, Ms. Powers noted the great strides made by African-Americans since the 1960s, culminating in the election of America’s first African-American President, Barack Obama, last year.

A second speaker, Sean Hurd, a teacher and coach at Hebron High School in DeSoto, gave the history of Juneteenth from its beginning in 1865 to the present.

The program contained lighter fare, including a long meter song by Jeff Dewberry and several other local singers; the recitation of a poem, Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”, done by Khaylon D. Randall of Forney; a solo by 5-year-old Alayla Johnson, daughter of Elisa and Simsmeyun Johnson of Dallas; and a poem reading by Kyron O. Hayes, 8, of Forney.

Before the program closed, Darren Rozell, Mayor of Forney, offered a few remarks showing the City of Forney’s support for Juneteenth among local residents.

The program ended with a closing prayer and a blessing over the food, and a picnic-style buffet meal followed.

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This story and any accompanying photo(s) were originally published in the Forney Messenger and are Copyright © 2009, Forney Messenger, Inc. and have been used by permission. The Forney Messenger is the publisher of Kaufman County’s oldest newspaper and may be found online at www.ForneyMessengerInc.com