PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Juneteenth 2021 will be celebrated with multiple commemorations all over the City of Philadelphia.
One group began the festivities on Monday with the Juneteenth flag raising at City Hall.
Music and ritual accompanied the flag raising, including Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson's reading of General Order Number 3, the document read in Texas on June 19th, 1865, which represented the final emancipation of slaves in the U.S.
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"All slaves are free. This involves absolute equality of personal rights," Johnson said, quoting the the document.
Johnson and colleague Jamie Gauthier also issued a citation.
"The celebration honors our ancestors who were subjected to the atrocity of slavery," said Gauthier.
Juneteenth is now a permanent city holiday. It falls on a Saturday this year, which is lucky, since there is so much going on.
It will be the official start of the Welcome America festival, with events launching from the African-American Museum.
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There will also be a Freedom Day rally and march in West Philadelphia, a festival at the Johnson House in Germantown, events at Fort Mifflin and Hatfield House in Fairmount Park and special activities at the Betsy Ross House, Please Touch and other museums.
Johnson said he didn't learn of the holiday until he was in college, underscoring the importance of giving it major recognition.
"If you do not know your history," Johnson said, "you will not know your future."