A walk in Pacoima, a celebration in Altadena and a concert in Manhattan Beach are part of a Southern California event scheduled for June.
Events are also available in Palmdale, Santa Monica and other communities in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
June read General Gordon Granger’s anniversary, held in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, and General Gordon Granger’s anniversary, bringing news of freedom to black people who became slaves in the Confederate western states several months after the end of the Civil War. The order states that “the people of Texans are informed that all slaves are free, in accordance with a declaration from American executives.”
In 2021, President Biden signed a law that established June as a federal public holiday.
There are several events in Southern California.
Opal Walk for Pacoima’s Freedom
Registration for the annual Opal Freedom Walk in Pacoima begins at 6am, with walks beginning at 7am at Hilary T. Broads Elementary School. It ends at Pacoima City Hall. This walk coincides with a similar event in Fort Worth, Texas. Opal Lee, the name of the event, will be participating at the event.
Lee, now 98, has campaigned for decades in June to become a federal public holiday. This was made possible on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the June National Independence Day Act, which was held at the signature ceremony in the White House East Room on June 17, 2021. Lee was on the day she declared a national holiday as her grandmother in June for the walking campaign that began at the age of 89.
The 2 1/2 mile distance honored the two and a half years it took to notify those who enslaved the Texas Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1863, and declared all slaves freely on Confederate territory on January 1, 1863.
The US post office will be closed and mail will not be delivered Thursday. All federal offices, schools and banks will be closed.
Following the Pacoima walk, signs will be announced honoring the first black postmaster of the “first class” postmaster, designated the intersection of Van Nuiss Boulevard and Keewen Avenue as Nancy C. Avery Square, and since the reconstruction, the first black postmaster. Avery was the postmaster at Pacoima Post Office from 1961 until his retirement in 1984. “First Class” post offices were determined based on income, and in 1961, Pacoima Post Office was one of 11.6% of places eligible for that designation, according to a move that Monica Rodriguez of Lati Council Woman Monica Rodriguez had designated Eilee’s honor.
Prior to the appointment by Postmaster General J. Edward Day, other black postmasters worked in a small country post office, citing information from the US postal service, according to Avery’s obituary provided by the event’s organizers.
Avery was also an active volunteer for the Democrats and the NAACP, and was the president of the current committee on the Animal Services Committee. She passed away in 1992 at the age of 72.
Altadena
The Altadena Historical Society’s fourth June 1st celebration luncheon features a preview of the Altadena Oral History Project, “Resilience’s Faces: The African American Cultural Legacy.” The luncheon also includes the Ellen Garrison Clark Scholarship Awards ceremony. A scholarship is awarded to local high school students in the spirit of Ellen Garrison Clark, and 19th-century educators, abolition of slavery, and early civil rights activists spend the last two years of her life in Pasadena, buried in Altadena.
Lunch will be held at Loma Alta Park from noon to 1:30pm. Tickets are available for $30 in advance and $35 at the door, and can be purchased here.
Palmdale
June celebrations including live music, classic car shows, food vendors and various family-friendly activities will be held at Ponsi Transquarter in Palmdale from 11am to 3pm
Manhattan Beach
Los Angeles County supervisor Holly J. Mitchell and Mayor Amy Thomas Howes speak at a June ceremony in Manhattan Beach at Beach Park in Bruce from 10am to 11am
June celebrations and concerts will be held on Sundays at Polywog Park in Manhattan Beach from 2pm to 7pm
Natural History Museum
In honor of June, admission is made from 3 to 5pm at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and the Tarpit in Lovelair.
Santa Monica
The Ferris wheels at Pacific Park at Santa Monica Pier are illuminated with red, white and blue patterns representing the June flag, with green, red and gold animations inspired by the Pan African flag. The lights will turn on at sunset around 8:08pm and run until 12:30am. The display can also be seen here.
Irvine
In Irvine, the city’s children’s museum will celebrate in June with a kids’ event starting at 10am
Source link
