GreenHill to hold Juneteenth celebration this Sunday

GLENDA SANDERS |, The Meridian Star, Miss.
·3 min read

Apr. 12—GreenHill Missionary Baptist Church in Toomsuba is celebrating Juneteenth early this year and is inviting the community to a special presentation Sunday to commemorate the history of the federal holiday.

The special service, which will begin at 11 a.m., is being organized and presented by the church's Mississippi Sisters of Praise Christian Ministry, which is celebrating its sixth anniversary this year. The praise team is made up of Toomsuba residents Hilda Newman and Sandra Ricks.

"We are paying tribute to Juneteenth," Newman said. "We are the first church in the Toomsuba area to have this kind of celebration for Juneteenth since it has been made a federal holiday."

While the holiday is in June, they thought they would get a jump start on the celebration due to scheduling conflicts this summer, Newman said.

Juneteenth is the name given to June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with about 2,000 Union troops to inform the community that the Civil War was over and that more than 250,000 Black Americans still enslaved there were free. Even though President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, the law could not be enforced in areas still under armed Confederate control until after the war ended on April 9, 1865.

In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

"Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and we always celebrate all the other holidays, and nobody was really paying attention to Juneteenth," Newman said.

While she was familiar with the holiday, once she fully researched its history, she thought it was important for more churches and schools to celebrate Juneteenth and educate its members on its significance, which is the purpose behind Sunday's event.

"We want to encourage schools and churches to start to celebrate Juneteenth like you do Valentine's Day, Black History Month, Fourth of July, Memorial Day and all of the other federal holidays," Newman said, "because this is an important part of history for everyone because we all want the same thing which is freedom."

The Mississippi Sisters of Praise Christian Ministry's special service on Sunday will include a retelling of the history of Juneteenth with assistance from church and community youth members, as well as a sermonette by Pastor Lawrence Kirksey and a Freedom Dance. The Mississippi Sisters of Praise will also present a Praise Ministry Dance to rapper Common and singer John Legend's Oscar-winning song "Glory" from the 2014 film, "Selma."

"We will be making a lot of important facts about Juneteenth, discussing traditions of food and culture, also we will have a lot of giveaways and door prizes and just looking to have a great time and educating people," Newman said.

Accompanying the women as presenters will be youth participants Joshua Griffin, Malaysia Moss, Zoey Robinson, Zane Hill, Skylar Hill, Ladarious Ransom and Alexander Newman.

After the service, a reception will be held at the church with a pizza buffet. GreenHill Missionary Baptist Church is located at 5324 Highway 496 in Toomsuba.

Contact Glenda Sanders at gsanders@themeridianstar.com.