The Spartanburg Juneteenth Organization is a South Carolina nonprofit corporation organized to educate the Spartanburg community about African American history. Our primary way of presenting this education is through an annual Juneteenth celebration.
It is so important for a community to have a private organization such as this, with a sole mission to educate the community on African American history. We have to control that narrative when it comes to educating our next generation on the Black excellence of our culture and people from pre-slavery, slavery, and post-slavery.
Juneteenth is summed up as the journey of people going from property to president in 150+ years. We must understand the power in that statement alone.
Spartanburg County Councilman Monier Abusaft speaks during the Spartanburg County Democratic Party meeting, at the Dr. T.K. Gregg Community Center in Spartanburg, Monday evening, April 11, 2022.
Literally, African Americans have transitioned from a place of bondage to a place of leadership over the entire free world, through former President Barack Obama and current Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s the visual arc of what our community has been able to do in the last 150+ years, if you think about it historically.
Related:During Juneteenth, here’s where to see historical Black landmarks in Spartanburg County
Read this:Here’s what to know about Spartanburg’s Juneteenth events
The Spartanburg Juneteenth, Inc.’s constituency is the broader Spartanburg community with a particular focus on African American and under-served communities. This makes it unique among the city’s festivals because the City of Spartanburg has a majority African American population, but its cultural offerings do not reflect this . Our mission is to educate the Spartanburg community through many different activities and events including our annual Juneteenth celebration Revival. We desire to first spread information on what Juneteenth is and the history of this celebration from 1865 and ongoing.