Updated: Saturday, 18 Jun 2011, 3:53 PM EDTPublished : Saturday, 18 Jun 2011, 3:53 PM EDT
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) â€" The Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Buffalo’s east side was filled with sights and sounds of African American heritage during the 36th celebration of the Juneteenth Festival.
Juneteenth itself began as a celebration in 1865 in Galveston, Texas. Word didn’t reach that far south that slaves had been freed after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation nearly three years earlier.
Jerome Williams of Juneteenth Buffalo said, “Then they celebrated in the streets and that’s when the first Juneteenth happened during that celebration and we still celebrate that today and to move forward.â€
>>> Juneteenth to kick off in MLK Park.
Today Buffalo holds the second largest festival in the nation, and their goal is to promote heritage through educational and cultural activities. On top of the traditional food, dancing and general celebrations that come with the festival, there are also job and college fairs throughout the weekend and various groups to become involved in.
“Resource, knowledge, education, knowing what’s out there; it’s so important to be aware of your surroundings and how you can tap into the natural resources that we have so we can not only better ourselves as people but our community as a whole,†added Youth and Young adult chair, Essence Sweet.
>>>For more information on the celebrations, click here.
One of the many groups helping is Leaving our Legacy which is part of June Teen Active.
Johan Welch of Leaving our Legacy said, “It’s really important for youth in Buffalo to get involved in things like this because there’s a lot of negatively surrounding the youth in Buffalo so we just want to she da positive light on the youth in Buffalo basically.â€
Sweet added, “Buffalo’s been up and down. And the truth is, we’re on a paradigm shift now and things are really catapulting up. And there’s an energetic, high energy that’s happening in the youth and within the people and everybody feels it. Buffalo is changing for the better and we’re going back to our glory days. And things like June Teen Active and the various community activities that are popping up, renovations and things like that are evidence of that increase of positivity in the city.â€
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