Offering services ranging from handmade goods to climate surveys, multicolored tents sprawled across downtown Gainesville to commemorate Emancipation Day, Juneteenth and the idea of freedom and equity for all.
The third annual Freedom Festival, hosted by the nonprofit Nathan Ross Inc. in partnership with the City of Gainesville, was held at Bo Diddley Plaza June 15 as a part of Alachua County’s Journey to Juneteenth celebration. Despite dispersing early due to rain, hundreds attended the event.
Food trucks and informational booths lined the plaza while musicians and dancers performed live on stage.
Lakesha Fountain owns Foundational Framework, a company that specializes in African clothing and accessories. Events like the Freedom Festival are all about bringing out the community, she said.
Black history will be lost if it isn’t taught, she said, and through sharing awareness of Juneteenth people can celebrate one another to create “peace and harmony.”
Brianna Oswalt, a Santa Fe alum and Alachua County resident, attended the event as a member of Santa Fe Planned Parenthood Generation Action. Engaging as many groups as possible in events like the Freedom Festival is vital, she said.
“I believe it’s one of those standpoints of nominating freedom,” Oswalt said.
Oswalt and her organization advocated for awareness of Amendment 4, which will appear on the November election ballot with aims to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution.
Terri Bailey, Bailey Learning and Arts Collective nonprofit owner, said it’s time for Black history to be more widely recognized.
“It’s really important that the young people and the older people understand the significance of Emancipation Day and what is now known as Juneteenth,” she said.
Exhibits like the Alachua County Remembrance Project help reinforce the history of why Juneteenth education is needed. The exhibit permanently displays soil from 50 Alachua County lynch sites from 1867 to 1916 and is open during the Freedom Festival.
Leslie Wooten is a member of the Democratic Women’s Club of Alachua County. The organization provided voter registration and election information at the event.
She said commemorating Juneteenth is “fantastically important.”
“Our African American community has damn little enough to celebrate,” she said. “I think we should all, including white people, celebrate with them.”
Sereen Hussain and Emma Crall attended the event as a part of HealthStreet, a UF community engagement program focused on Gainesville health concerns.
The Freedom Festival provides an opportunity to learn more about Black culture for those who aren’t African American, which Hussain said is an opportunity they may not have had otherwise.
Since the 2023 enactment of House Bill 999, there have been sweeping changes to K-12 and higher education curriculum, with critical race theory as a topic of contention. From the temporary banning of AP African American Studies to the “Stop the W.O.K.E.” Act, Black history has been a target of censorship at all levels of state curriculum.
NKwanda Jah said the hate she has seen in the world today is comparable to the hate her ancestors saw 100 years ago. She serves as a representative of Empower, an organization dedicated to promoting clean energy in Alachua County.
“In the times we’re living in, where we’re not even supposed to talk about Black history,” she said. “If we don’t understand our history, we’re going to repeat it, as we are now.”
Rain caused attendees to leave early, but there was no shortage of smiles as people sought shelter under the remaining tents before the event was washed away by the storm.
Wanda Burrnett-Walker, founder of Joffe' Creations, a business that sells one-of-a-kind mosaic creations, said accessible Juneteenth programs help city residents work on cultural understanding.
“It’s a way for us to recognize what happened as far as slavery,” she said. “And of course it recognizes what we are as a community and how we can come together to spread a lot of love and understanding about our different cultures.”
Andre Pressley, a Gainesville resident, said Black history is a lot more than just what is read in books or seen on television.
“My mom is Juneteenth history. I am Juneteenth history. We are all Juneteenth history,” he said. “So, I figured that if we come and celebrate together, it will spread more light.”
Alachua County’s Journey to Juneteenth celebration will continue through June 19.
Contact Morgan Vanderlaan at mvanderlaan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @morgvande.
Morgan Vanderlaan is a second year Political Science major and the Fall 2024 Politics Enterprise Reporter. When she's not on the clock she can be found writing, reciting, and watching theatre!
