- The City of Tallahassee hosted various events around the city to celebrate Florida Emancipation Day.
- Florida Emancipation Day celebrates May 20, 1965, which is the day slaves in Florida found out they were free.
- Watch the video to find out how leaders are emphasizing education this time.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Freedom rang for slaves across the United States back in 1963 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
But that freedom came two years later on May 20 for slaves in Florida.
Our neighbors in Tallahassee are marking 160 years since that day with the city-wide Emancipation Day.
“Today is a day of celebration. We're celebrating freedom,” Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Williams-Cox said.
This time, they’re emphasizing education.
“We celebrate this every year since 1865 to commemorate freedom and to make sure we pass this along to the next generation to let them know that we are indeed free,” Williams-Cox said.
Students from at least 12 HBCUs in the southeast attended events throughout the city, according to the Division of Historical Resources at the Florida Department of State —including local students from schools like the Brownsville Preparatory Academy.
These students placing flowers by the headstones of union soldiers at the Old City Cemetery, even singing historical songs and listening as leaders read the Emancipation Proclamation at the Knott House.
“It's about really the people who started the commemoration, the importance of what they were commemorating, the end of slavery here in this area, the people that have kept it alive for over 160 years, and all the young people and community people here today who are going to continue it for many years in the future,” Assistant Director of the Division of Historical Resources at the Florida Department of State John Grandage said.
ABC 27’s Brieanna Smith spoke to one visitor who’s learning more about history herself, attending the Emancipation Day for the first time.
“I never had a chance to really understand all what was going on, but since I came to this workshop, I’ve learned so much, and I understand it much better,” Barbara Davis said.
She hopes that all generations took a little piece of history home with them, too.
“I’m hoping that more people jump on board and take a part, and we can take it to just about every part of the Florida, every city should get involved with this, so they can really understand the meaning of what it means to be free,” Davis said.
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