Pontiac gets ready to celebrate the freedom and resilience of African-Americans
PONTIAC, Mich., May 31, 2024 — The city of Pontiac is gearing up for a city-wide celebration for Juneteenth on Saturday, June 15. This year, state Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac) will be the grand marshal for the parade.
State Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac), speaks with reporters after the State of the State Address on the House Floor, Jan. 21.
“I’m deeply honored to serve as grand marshal for this important holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., and for me Juneteenth is about the condemnation of the institution of slavery as the cruel atrocity it was. When we come together for Juneteenth, we celebrate the ancestors who gave their blood, sweat, tears and in some cases, lost their very lives because of slavery. We celebrate the resilience and the hard-fought freedom of Black people in this country,” Carter said.
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later, on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas.
When the army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree, this day came to be known as “Juneteenth” by the newly freed people in Texas.
Juneteenth is recognized as a federal and state holiday in Michigan.
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