2020 Festival

“In recent years Juneteenth has been celebrated in many locations throughout the country,” he says.

Companies such as Nike, the NFL and Twitter will be recognizing the holiday this year. 

For Carson, the significance is a focus on both celebration and discussion. “It’s one of those holidays where not a whole lot of people really understand the historical context of it, but it’s a way to bring people together in celebration of African American culture,” Carson explains. 

“It’s always a good thing to learn while celebrating,” he adds.

USC Upstate history professor Carmen Harris will discuss the Tulsa race massacre that occurred on June 1, 1921. The massacre saw 35 city blocks burned, more than a thousand homes destroyed and around 300 people killed in an affluent, majority African American part of the city known as “Black Wall Street.”

Around the talks, Moody Black will perform and Georgia McClintock will give a historical monologue, Durrah says.

Durrah hopes that people will learn a bit more about African American history. “We hope that our audience, our community, overall, can appreciate the holiday,” he says. 

“It’s important that we look at our history, so that we don’t repeat it,” Durrah explains. “It might be uncomfortable, but it is very important.”

The Juneteenth event will be from 10 a.m. to noon. Due to the pandemic, space at the event is limited. You can catch it via a livestream on the Facebook pages of Spartanburg Juneteenth, Spartanburg’s NAACP chapter, Brothers Restoring Urban Hope and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.

Live Streamed:

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church Page & Bruh Mentor Page