This year’s celebration of Juneteenth in Carroll Co.
featured a documentary on the black churches in the area
In the last several meetings of the Carroll County NAACP, we
have discussed Juneteenth.
June 30th, 2017 by Kevin E. Dayhoff
According to the April 27, 2017 minutes of the Carroll
County NAACP: “It was mentioned that the Community Media Center
http://www.carrollmediacenter.org/
and the CC NAACP will partner in an upcoming event involving a movie that has
been made about the history of the Black churches in Carroll County.
For those not familiar with Juneteenth, it is a celebration
of the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaching Galveston Texas and being
publicly announced by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19th, 1865 - two and
a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been
signed on January 1, 1863.
According to Sherry Taylor with the Carroll Community Media
center, “Throughout our history, the
church has been the cornerstone around which people have gathered to build
their communities. It is the rock of faith that sustains us in times of
uncertainty, the foundation that supports us as we grow, and a touchstone to guide
us day-by-day.
“But, some of our
small churches are finding themselves on shifting sand, facing an uncertain
future. Shrinking congregations, competing interests, and financial pressures
create significant challenges in their survival.
“Carroll County’s
houses of worship not only serve as a source of strength and comfort, but also
have been vessels of history; some tracing their roots back over 100 years.
“For these
parishioners, the loss of the church, is the loss of their legacy. Today, it’s
not just the building or the congregation that is at risk, it is the very
heritage of their ancestors and the identity of an entire community that is at
stake.”
“June 19, is "Juneteenth," a relatively
little-known holiday in approximately 45 of the 50 states, and the District of
Columbia. In June 2011, when I first wrote about the importance of Juneteenth
and advocated that Maryland recognize 'Juneteenth Independence Day,' only 38
states observed the holiday. Today, according to some recent research, Hawaii,
Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and South Dakota still do not recognize
the ‘19th of June.’ …”
This year’s celebration of Juneteenth in Carroll Co.
featured a documentary on the black churches in the area
