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History comes alive with Juneteenth event at Veterans Park in Painesville

News-Herald - 6/18/2022

Jun. 18—American abolitionist, author, speaker and women's rights activist Sojourner Truth may have died in 1883, but the embodiment of her spirit was on full display June 18 in Painesville during the city's inaugural Juneteenth gala.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

Painesville's hour-long formal program on June 18, featuring "Stop the Hate" essay contest winners sponsored by the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, kicked off the gala, which ran until 4 p.m. at Veterans Park.

Painesville City At-Large Councilman Jim Fodor, center, reads a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth during the city's inaugural observance fête on June 18 at Veterans Park. (Chad Felton ??

Observance of Juneteenth — which was designated as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden last year — commemorates June 19, 1865, when U.S. Army Ranger Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with the news that enslaved people were granted freedom, about two months after the Confederacy surrendered and over a year and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation.

The event's top billing, perhaps, belonged to early childhood educator, storyteller and Women in History actress Robin Echols Cooper, who passionately portrayed Truth by sharing folktales of the African American oral tradition during the core of the presentation.

"I was born into slavery and sold as a child away from her family for the cost of $100," Cooper said, channeling Truth, who was born Isabella Baumfree, circa 1797. "Yet, despite unspeakable cruelty and hardship, I later became one of the most fervent crusaders against slavery and an icon in the cause for women's suffrage."

Cooper noted Truth's strength and courage to travel, stand up and speak out, which resulted in her name change, resonates with people of all backgrounds to date.

"She fought for justice and equality," said Cooper, who has also portrayed mail carrier Stagecoach Mary, activist and organizer Fannie Lou Hamer, and activist and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson at a variety of programming venues.

"Also, the history of women, what little has been recorded, has been mainly told by men and it needs to be rewritten to include all of our (collective) histories. All of our stories make up the fabric of America. That's one of the lessons of Juneteenth — it is America's history and Sojourner remains an American hero."

Though it was designated as a federal holiday last year, Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. (Chad Felton ??

Truth, Cooper added, moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, in the 1870s and continued to speak out against injustices facing African Americans and women until her death.

"Her funeral was one of the biggest ever seen (in the city)," she said. "On her tombstone, engraved for the ages, is the question she asked Frederick Douglass when he revealed there was little hope for the future of African Americans.

"She confronted him with, 'Frederick, is God dead? Is God dead?' This simple question describes the powerful and never-ending faith of an ex-slave, an ex-slave who believed no one is free until we are all free."

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