Athenians of all ages gathered together for the Juneteenth flag raising on Saturday, June 14 in front of City Hall. Hosted by the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement, the flag raising is a community celebration commemorating Black liberation and the legacy of Emancipation.

“In honor of the 5,000 slaves freed by the union soldiers in Athens-Clarke County, we will hoist the Juneteenth flag. We shall remind the nation that Juneteenth is a day of emancipation, a day of celebration in honor of Black liberation,” Mokah Jasmine Johnson, co-founder and executive director of AADM, said.

Before raising the flag, Barbara Barnett, a community leader, led the libation ceremony where attendees poured water onto grass to honor their ancestors who “really paved the way” for the Black community.

“This is a reminder to us that our ancestors still live in our hearts,” Barnett said.

Juneteenth is celebrated annually on June 19, and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It marks the day in 1865 when news of freedom from slavery finally reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

“When this day ends, we must never forget the sacrifices that were made to free the enslaved,” Johnson said. “We may be free from the physical abuse, the chains, the whips and the cotton fields. We may be free from the shackles, free from our slave masters, but we must never forget the tears that were wept and the blood that was shed by our ancestors.”

AADM will be hosting the Athens Juneteenth Music and Art Festival on Thursday, June 19, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. outside of city hall. The festival will include live performances, a marketplace of Black-owned businesses, a youth and family zone, storytelling and community conversation, art and dance, according to a press release.

“Our community is stronger when work together to preserve dignity, amplify voices and invest in real change for all people, particularly those who have long been marginalized,” Mayor Kelly Girtz said.