Juneteenth Festival

Juneteenth, a worldwide celebration, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It dates back to June 19, 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official. That’s when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with word the Civil War had ended and that slaves were freed.
The telling of Sarah Johnson’s, they all called her Aunt Sarah, life story will one of the highlights of Olean New York’s first Juneteenth Festival this weekend. The only “colored” female in the community when she arrived in Olean in 1833 as a runaway slave, she married James Johnson, a local barber and she became the towns only midwife. The couple became the first African- American homeowners in Olean. Their home still stands today. The house is said to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. The streets and roadways that were once canals led slaves to the house. Mrs. Johnson’s exact age was not known, about a year and a half before her death this fugitive slave from a Maryland plantation was considered the oldest person in Olean, according to her obituary in the local newspaper.
Last year, a Black owned company, Neighbor-Works Home Resources, purchased the current location to start the cultural center. The three-day event will also include dramatic readings, children’s activities, art workshops, food vendors, distribution of flats of vegetables for neighbors to plant at home, demonstrations and audience participation in cooking and drumming and a photo exhibit. Some of the programs to be offered at the center beyond Juneteenth festivities include after-school programs for children, coffee houses and “vinyl jazz nights. Now that is motivation for a jubilant Juneteenth celebration if I ever heard one, rest in peace Mrs. Johnson for you are free indeed and your living was certainly not in vain! I’m Just Sayin…

Peace & Blessings