Committee Members

Gwen Alexander
Jerome Smith
Pamela Thomas
Jean Pollard
Jasmine O'Conner
Adrian Battle
Alitha Adkins
Danny Williams
Jada Alexander
Charles Alexander
Jameelah Batton
Bishop Thomas
Schanel Pollard
Ursula

Juneteenth is the oldest celebration of the freeing of slaves.  This is a historic moment that should be cherished by all and remembered only to make us stronger.  As a people we have given to America and the world more of ourselves than should be humanly possible.  We have been there time and time again in support of a Nation that didn’t look upon us as men but animals and still we fought for the freedom of all people.

I say this not to malign or degrade anyone, I say it to make a point that we know what must be done and we get it done.  We have proven time and time again that we are a strong people.  When we stand together we are stronger.

When President Lincoln signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation, he gave all African Americans their freedom “hence now and forever free” no matter what happens.  This gives us something to celebrate that should be looked upon as an honor and tribute we show to our forefathers that were slaves.  It should be a time for remembering that a high cost had been paid by our more recent ancestors who won our Civil Rights for us today. 

By supporting and attending the statewide Juneteenth events, you allow us to come together as a people to remember where we came from and how we got here.  We have always been an inventive and scholarly people, able to preserver in times of struggle.  We are steadily gaining strength because we realize that we are somebody and more than able to stand on our own.

We’ve come from one state recognizing Juneteenth in Texas, the state that was last to recognize General Order Number 3, to twenty-nine celebrating states and more are working to become a part of this historic movement.  Please take the time to visit our National Juneteenth Observance Foundation web site to learn how you too can help keep the Juneteenth movement alive.

In the year of one of our own, Senator Barrack Obama, becoming the first African American President of the United States of America, we the African Americans of the United States of America have the privilege of being a part of history.  We have been given the honor of seeing the realization of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dream of a black child achieving his dream against all odds.  It is time for us to come together as a people and move ahead to a “changed” future.

We welcome you one and all to our web site and for those of you who have been past supporters, we thank you for allowing us to give you a little more knowledge on the history of the African American people.  We look forward to seeing you all at our future celebrations.  As an added part to our event, we will be paying honor to those African American Soldiers of the Engineering Regiments the 93^rd, 95^th, 97^th, and the 388^th. 

For those of you who don’t know, these African American soldiers came to the aid of America in a time of no integration in the US Armed Services.  Together they completed a highway that connected Alaska to the rest of America in time to avert a hostile takeover by a foreign power.  This highway is known as the Alaska Canadian Highway (ALCAN) which is still in use today.  At the 2009 Juneteenth celebration, we will have information and handouts on a little known part of this highway construction that was guaranteed to succeed by the strength and sweat of our African American soldiers.  I refer to the construction of the Sikanni Bridge known as the Sikanni Chief River Crossing.  Over the next 5 years we will be showing individual tribute to the four Engineering Regiments as part of our Juneteenth celebration.  Remember:

“It is only in working together that we can make it work!”


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