Program Description
Event Details
Celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
Schedule of Events
9:00 am to 9:15 am: Opening remarks about Opal's Walk
9:15 am to 10:15 am: Opal's Walk (2.5 miles)
At 90 years old, Opal Lee began a walking campaign advocating for Juneteenth to become a national holiday. Her prescribed 2.5 mile walk represents the years it took for enforcement of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas and free the slaves there. In honor of Opal, we will walk 2.5 miles from the Indian Creek Library to the center of the MidAmerica Nazarene University (by way of the Indian Creek Trail).
11:00 am: Historical Figure Portrayal: David Page, early Black Olathe resident
After the Civil War ended, newly freed, Southern blacks, know as “Exodusters” fled Southern states because of continued racism and violence, as well as economic and social poverty. During this period, some 16,000 blacks settled across Kansas with nearly 900 African American residents in Johnson County by 1880.
African American often formed their own neighborhoods in response to racist, segregationist white attitudes and actions. In Olathe, Blacks were forced to create their neighborhood away from the downtown area and instead settled in the Fairview neighborhood. Within these racialized neighborhoods, African Americans created their own schools and churches and became business owners.
In this historical portrayal, you'll meet one such business owner, David Page. Page was a Civil War veteran and one of the first Black Olathe residents. Page will be portrayed by Br. John Anderson.
11:00 am to 1:00 pm: Jadabay’s Tasty Kitchen Food Truck on-site
11:30 am: Children's Storytime
1:00 pm: Historical Figure Portrayal: David Page, early Black Olathe resident (repeat of 11:00 am program)
2:00 pm: Historical Presentation: "Children of the Promised Land" presented by Angela Bates of Humanities Kansas Nicodemus, a small, unincorporated town in Graham County, is the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War. Black homesteaders settled the town, which today is a National Historic Site. This pictorial history explores the unique experience of mothers and their children in Nicodemus, some of whom were the first members of their families born free. Within the context of settling in the West and at the end of Reconstruction, this presentation discusses the dynamics of mothers and their children after slavery, stories of children conceived in slavery but born free, and the contrast of life and decisions based on the simple concept of “choice,” which freedom afforded. Presented by Angela Bates. Angela is the executive director and past president of the Nicodemus Historical Society.
(Virtual Link: https://zoom.us/j/99753132037?pwd=Mmd2bEJDckxWK3NLcDN4QkpDNzdrdz09)
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm: On Juneteenth Book Discussion
3:30 pm: Children's Storytime
Throughout the day: Make buttons and bracelets in the Lab