White Plains Celebrates 10th Juneteenth Parade and Festival
The White Plains 10th Annual Juneteenth Parade and Festival will be held Saturday, June 14th commencing with the parade at 12 p.m. on Mamaroneck Avenue and the festival from 1 to 6 p.m. on Court Street between Martine Avenue and Main Street.
This year’s Grand Marshals are the Civil Rights Freedom Riders. The day will be filled with live music, dancing, good food and activities for all ages.
The White Plains Juneteenth Heritage Committee, which holds a gala each year to raise funds for the festival honored several individuals: Harry Jefferson, Jr., Daniel Woodard, Willie Mae Hodges-Parker and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Pi Iota Omega Chapter at its Awards dinner on June 5th.
Hodges-Parker, a White Plains High School graduate, aka “Willa” known for her signature Don Cornelius afro was a fixture in White Plains during the 1960’s and 70’s. She was actively involved and played an instrumental role in the Winbrook Housing community and the YWCA helping to develop empowerment programs for girls and young adult women.
Hodges-Parker designed a unique Big Sisters mentoring program that offered a variety of activities and opportunities to achieve their specific objectives. Within five years the program expanded to include Little Sisters (currently YWCA Gems), also extensions Harambee, Faize 1, Faize 2, and Strivers.
Hodges-Parker relocated to North Carolina where she has resided for more than 30 years, but on Saturday, June 7th, the White Plains YWCA Black Sisters of African Descent held their 45th Reunion of the White Plains YWCA Big & Little Sisters Program and Willie Hodges-Parker was the guest speaker.
The White Plains Juneteenth Parade and Festival on June 14th caps a several week celebration of empowerment and growth within the African American community of the city and acknowledges the continuing need for the encouragement and promotion of young women. The 2014 theme is “Understanding Our Past…Bridge to our Future.”
According to Juneteenth.com, Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. In 1865, on June 19th Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were free.
This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had become official on January 1, 1863. The website claims that the Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. With the surrender of General Lee in April 1865 and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces became strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
The White Plains 10th Annual Juneteenth Parade and Festival will be held Saturday, June 14th commencing with the parade at 12 p.m. on Mamaroneck Avenue and the festival from 1 to 6 p.m. on Court Street between Martine Avenue and Main Street.
This year’s Grand Marshals are the Civil Rights Freedom Riders. The day will be filled with live music, dancing, good food and activities for all ages.
The White Plains Juneteenth Heritage Committee, which holds a gala each year to raise funds for the festival honored several individuals: Harry Jefferson, Jr., Daniel Woodard, Willie Mae Hodges-Parker and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Pi Iota Omega Chapter at its Awards dinner on June 5th.
Hodges-Parker, a White Plains High School graduate, aka “Willa” known for her signature Don Cornelius afro was a fixture in White Plains during the 1960’s and 70’s. She was actively involved and played an instrumental role in the Winbrook Housing community and the YWCA helping to develop empowerment programs for girls and young adult women.
Hodges-Parker designed a unique Big Sisters mentoring program that offered a variety of activities and opportunities to achieve their specific objectives. Within five years the program expanded to include Little Sisters (currently YWCA Gems), also extensions Harambee, Faize 1, Faize 2, and Strivers.
Hodges-Parker relocated to North Carolina where she has resided for more than 30 years, but on Saturday, June 7th, the White Plains YWCA Black Sisters of African Descent held their 45th Reunion of the White Plains YWCA Big & Little Sisters Program and Willie Hodges-Parker was the guest speaker.
The White Plains Juneteenth Parade and Festival on June 14th caps a several week celebration of empowerment and growth within the African American community of the city and acknowledges the continuing need for the encouragement and promotion of young women. The 2014 theme is “Understanding Our Past…Bridge to our Future.”
According to Juneteenth.com, Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. In 1865, on June 19th Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were free.
This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had become official on January 1, 1863. The website claims that the Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. With the surrender of General Lee in April 1865 and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces became strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
The Juneteenth website further explains that later attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in delivering the good news has resulted in several stories.
Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another, is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another, is that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
