CLINTON, Tenn. — A cultural center that works to honor and preserve the legacy of the Clinton 12 — a group of students who attended class at Clinton High School and led desegregation efforts in East Tennessee — hosted a Juneteenth celebration on Wednesday.
The Juneteenth Gospel Celebration brought together the Clinton community for a celebration on the Green McAdoo Cultural Center's lawn. It included a concert with performances by Asbury United Methodist Church and Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. People also had a chance to take part in Black history trivia, competing to show off how well they knew Black history.
The event started at 4:30 p.m. and it was scheduled to last until around 8 p.m. It was free to attend and included plenty of gospel music.
Juneteenth marks the day enslaved people were freed in Texas — when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger established military command in the state and told people in the state that enslaved people were free. That happened on June 19, 1865.
The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865. For more than two months, some Southern slave owners refused orders to free enslaved people and only until they were met with military force were those chains broken and enslaved people were made free in the U.S.
Juneteenth marks the day when slave owners were made to set people free. It is also known as Freedom Day and is sometimes referred to as America's second Independence Day.