ByWTOC Staff|June 18, 2020 at 8:26 AM EDT - Updated June 18 at 8:26 AM
TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Friday is “Juneteenth”. It marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, with news that slaves were free in the U.S. It happened a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Mitchelville Preservation Project, along with other museums, will host a digital Juneteenth commemoration calledBLKFREEDOM.org. The original video presentation features nationally known historians. It begins Friday at noon and you can watch it byclicking here.
Locally, the Tybee MLK Human Rights Organization is hosting the 5th Annual Juneteenth Wade In.
The event will begin Friday at 9 a.m. Participants will gather in front of the North Beach Bar & Grill, located at 33 Meddin Drive on Tybee. Social distancing and face masks will be required and attendees can bring beach chairs and noisemakers.
Attorney Chad Mance, VP of the Savannah NAACP, will speak to the occasion, and Patt Gunn, Gullah Geechee storyteller, will lead attendees to a Wade In the Water.
Photo: Getty Images