The mantra of the annual Juneteenth celebration echoed loudly from the corner of Fourth and Franklin streets in downtown Columbus on Saturday afternoon.
“Freeeee-dom,” crooned a cappella vocalist Yoruba Kikiloma-Mason, drawing out the word for special emphasis. “Freedommmmmm.”
The Louisville, Kentucky-based singer helped kick off the festivities organized by the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area Branch of the NAACP. She also helped tell the story of the special day marking the official end of slavery in the United States as she took on the acting role of a mid-1800s slave.
She even mentioned some of the food traditionally associated with the day, including everything from barbecue to red velvet cake.
“Those are just to name a few,” she said.
She and the African American Community Choir drew about 120 people encircling the NAACP’s booth at the event that eventually attracted over an eight-hour period an estimated 500 people, about the same as last year, according to organizers.
Juneteenth, also known to some as Liberation Day, marks the day when Texas freed the last American slaves — two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865. The name comes from a merging of the month and the actual historical date into one word.
Read more in Monday’s edition of The Republic.
