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PHOTO FOCUS: Black Scranton Project's Juneteenth Jubilee

Glynis Johns, founder & CEO of the Black Scranton Project, dances while roller skating during the organization's Juneteenth Jubilee.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Glynis Johns, founder & CEO of the Black Scranton Project, dances while roller skating during the organization's Juneteenth Jubilee.

The Black Scranton Project held its fifth Juneteenth Jubilee Block Party at the organization's Center for Arts and Culture in Scranton on Saturday, June 15.

Glynis Johns, founder & CEO of the project, opened the celebration around noon. Social justice organizations, education institutions and businesses joined the jubilee. Rock on Radio 99.5's DJ Killa Kwest spun tunes. Poets from Beyond Ur Expectations' Rhythm & Rhymes Poetry Nights spoke and local musicians performed while people of all ages roller skated.

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863. However, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas — the westernmost Confederate state at the time — with news that all the enslaved Black people in the state were free. The day became known as Juneteenth and its now officially a federal holiday.

Rebecca Daniels prepares to take a tin type photo during the Black Scranton Project's Juneteenth Jubilee.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Rebecca Daniels prepares to take a tin type photo during the Black Scranton Project's Juneteenth Jubilee.