Juneteenth Louisville 2015!!!
Donation protected
Greetings!!!
My name is Gary Brice and I am spearheading the organization of the 2015 Juneteenth Celebration for the city of Louisville.
This festival is going to engage the Louisville community in ways we haven't seen in a long time.
Imagine...a young girl comes to the park that Saturday...mom and dad can register to vote...little brother can get a free hair cut...she sees a local step team perform...choirs sing...she learns about her African Heritage through storytelling and various exhibits. And she still makes time for the bounce house while mom and dad get their blood pressure checked. After the natural hair show, she decides that she wants locks just like the ladies in the show.
The family picks up great mentoring information for her older cousin. And she even signs up for an after school program. After the living museum they plant a seed and get face paint. And although dad didn’t win the piece of land that was given away...he finds out how he can purchase an abandoned property in Louisville for cheap.
After a long day of stimulation her father carriers her exhausted body to the car...her mind... enlightened...motivated...inspired.
~~~~~
I am a fellow board member of WIT (Women In Transition) and I also teach drama classes at a local community center here in Louisville. While recently working on our Black History Month Program, out of curiosity, I decided to ask my students what they knew about slavery in America.
Silence
I was shocked! I found it problematic that my young people...our young people, knew so little about the history, early history of African American people.
And I wondered: what could be done to teach them about the unique history of African people in America in a way that was fun, engaging, and stimulating; all the while, involving the greater Louisville community?
Juneteenth!!!
What is Juneteenth you may ask? www.Juneteenth.com summarizes the origin of the celebration quite nicely:
"Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863."
Growing up in the St. Louis area, I attended annual Juneteenth festivals. The event was always outside in one of the local parks. The event, like most, consisted of an opening ceremony, followed by a series of speakers, performances, discussions, and stories celebrating the emancipation of American slaves. All the while, all over the park, there were food stations, games, vendors, and all types of organizations with all types of community resources.
I wondered If Louisville had a similar celebration?
After doing research, I found that there had been no significant Juneteenth festivities in the city of Louisville for a few years. Thus, the gears in my brain started turning… and turning and turning, until pretty soon I decided that that need to change!
And so,
We have started planning a celebration similar to those that happen all over the U.S. on or around June 19th.
It is crucial that this event happen in Louisville.
Thus, there is a lot to be done and we are still in the early planning stages. Still, we need your help to make this happen. We have set an ambitious fundraising goal of 25,000 dollars to cover the costs of this event as we will need to pay for:
Permits, insurance, the park, food, performers, giveaways, trash, porta-potties, power, marketing, tables, chairs, a stage, bleechers, signs, barriers, paper, a sound system, a bounce house, a dunk tank and any other various expenses we come across along the way.
Help me and my organization bring this celebration to our city for our children and our families. Let us create an experience our community will never forget. Let us learn fellowship, eat, network, and enjoy the uniqueness of African American heritage. Let us embrace and celebrate tradition and history with a spectacular Juneteenth Festival in the city of Louisville!
Thank you so much for your support.
Also, If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved with this project, are a vendor, want to perform, or have general ideas to make it better, please contact me at [email redacted].
Best Regards,
Gary Brice
My name is Gary Brice and I am spearheading the organization of the 2015 Juneteenth Celebration for the city of Louisville.
This festival is going to engage the Louisville community in ways we haven't seen in a long time.
Imagine...a young girl comes to the park that Saturday...mom and dad can register to vote...little brother can get a free hair cut...she sees a local step team perform...choirs sing...she learns about her African Heritage through storytelling and various exhibits. And she still makes time for the bounce house while mom and dad get their blood pressure checked. After the natural hair show, she decides that she wants locks just like the ladies in the show.
The family picks up great mentoring information for her older cousin. And she even signs up for an after school program. After the living museum they plant a seed and get face paint. And although dad didn’t win the piece of land that was given away...he finds out how he can purchase an abandoned property in Louisville for cheap.
After a long day of stimulation her father carriers her exhausted body to the car...her mind... enlightened...motivated...inspired.
~~~~~
I am a fellow board member of WIT (Women In Transition) and I also teach drama classes at a local community center here in Louisville. While recently working on our Black History Month Program, out of curiosity, I decided to ask my students what they knew about slavery in America.
Silence
I was shocked! I found it problematic that my young people...our young people, knew so little about the history, early history of African American people.
And I wondered: what could be done to teach them about the unique history of African people in America in a way that was fun, engaging, and stimulating; all the while, involving the greater Louisville community?
Juneteenth!!!
What is Juneteenth you may ask? www.Juneteenth.com summarizes the origin of the celebration quite nicely:
"Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863."
Growing up in the St. Louis area, I attended annual Juneteenth festivals. The event was always outside in one of the local parks. The event, like most, consisted of an opening ceremony, followed by a series of speakers, performances, discussions, and stories celebrating the emancipation of American slaves. All the while, all over the park, there were food stations, games, vendors, and all types of organizations with all types of community resources.
I wondered If Louisville had a similar celebration?
After doing research, I found that there had been no significant Juneteenth festivities in the city of Louisville for a few years. Thus, the gears in my brain started turning… and turning and turning, until pretty soon I decided that that need to change!
And so,
We have started planning a celebration similar to those that happen all over the U.S. on or around June 19th.
It is crucial that this event happen in Louisville.
Thus, there is a lot to be done and we are still in the early planning stages. Still, we need your help to make this happen. We have set an ambitious fundraising goal of 25,000 dollars to cover the costs of this event as we will need to pay for:
Permits, insurance, the park, food, performers, giveaways, trash, porta-potties, power, marketing, tables, chairs, a stage, bleechers, signs, barriers, paper, a sound system, a bounce house, a dunk tank and any other various expenses we come across along the way.
Help me and my organization bring this celebration to our city for our children and our families. Let us create an experience our community will never forget. Let us learn fellowship, eat, network, and enjoy the uniqueness of African American heritage. Let us embrace and celebrate tradition and history with a spectacular Juneteenth Festival in the city of Louisville!
Thank you so much for your support.
Also, If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved with this project, are a vendor, want to perform, or have general ideas to make it better, please contact me at [email redacted].
Best Regards,
Gary Brice
Organizer
Gary Edjukated Rebel Brice
Organizer
Louisville, KY
