NASA professor and social activist to speak at Pamlico County Juneteenth celebration on Saturday

Tina Adkins, Sun Journal
·2 min read
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The Dazzling Dancers are shown performing at a previous Pamlico County Juneteenth celebration held at Alliance Recreation Park.
The Dazzling Dancers are shown performing at a previous Pamlico County Juneteenth celebration held at Alliance Recreation Park.

Pamlico County will hold its YNTO 3rd Annual Juneteenth Celebration on June 18 at Pamlico County Middle School at 15526 N.C. 55 in Bayboro.

The site of the celebration is symbolic to organizers; the middle school was formerly Pamlico Training Institute and Pamlico Central School, which was an all-Black school for students in grades K-12 from 1927 to 1969. The school's name changed for the 1969-1970 school year to Pamlico Grammar, when schools in the area became integrated.

This year's event is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. It will honor alumni who attended the schools during segregation with exhibits, memorabilia and a slide show, and guest speakers from 4 to 5 p.m. in the gymnasium.

Organizer Taquan Jones of Youth Navigating Towards Opportunity (YNTO), said they decided to make the event later in the day to avoid the heat.

"We will have a lot of elderly people who will be attending the event," Jones said. "We wanted to try to make it comfortable for them."

Guest speakers include Professor Gregory Cutler, deputy program manager for NASA Research & Education Support Services and Monica Gibbs, a social justice activist who has just joined the team of U.S. Congresswoman Alma Adams and will also serve as her campaign manager. Cutler and Gibbs are natives of Pamlico County.

Gibbs said she hopes that people will get an understanding of the importance of the emancipation of Black people and what it stood for.

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Social activist Monica Gibbs will be one of the guest speakers at YNTO's 3rd Annual Juneteenth Celebration set for June 18 at Pamlico Middle School.
Social activist Monica Gibbs will be one of the guest speakers at YNTO's 3rd Annual Juneteenth Celebration set for June 18 at Pamlico Middle School.

"I want people to be educated," she said. "I want them to really understand what it means."

There will be performances by the Step-N with YNTO Girls, music, entertainment, vendors, bouncy houses, dunk tank, face-painting and the second YNTO & Kids vs. Pamlico County Sheriff's Department kickball game.

Food will be available for purchase. Children eat free.

Youth Navigating Towards Opportunity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that  reaches out to youth ages 9-17 in Pamlico County and surrounding areas. It is intended to provide a safe environment where learning is supported and talent is nurtured, and eading towards a productive individual and community member.

For more information on YNTO or the Juneteenth celebration, visit ynto.org.

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: NASA professor, social activist speak at Juneteenth in Pamlico County