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Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church located at 401 Oglesby Street in Greenville has announced its inaugural Juneteenth Freedom Day Jubilee is set to take place on Saturday, June 14 from 1-4 p.m. 

“This inaugural Juneteenth Jubilee will be a reminder of the joy, excitement and celebration of those earliest Juneteenth celebrations, bringing people from all backgrounds and races together around history, storytelling, music, art, food and community pride,” said Michael J. Evans, senior pastor. 

The free event will feature oral history, storytelling, wellness screening, music, local student drumline, art and Black-owned business vendors. It is open to the public.

Evans explained that on June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved people of the nation were now free. The date, now celebrated as Juneteenth, came more than two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and 250 years after the first enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas. 

In 2021, President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday and on May 8, Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation officially establishing Juneteenth as a permanent state holiday in Alabama.