West Orange Will Honor Local Trailblazer For Juneteenth 2021

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange African Heritage Organization (WOAHO) is partnering with the local school district to host a Juneteenth celebration for 2021 in honor of a local trailblazer: Anna Easter Brown.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day and Emancipation Day, is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. It commemorates the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865 announcement by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas, two years after the official Emancipation Proclamation.

In West Orange, the WOAHO and the school district plan to hold a photo dedication ceremony in tribute to Brown, a West Orange native, at the West Orange High School library media center, 51 Conforti Avenue, from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 19.

During the program, a photo and likeness of Brown will be installed on the Wall of Honor at West Orange High School. Attendance is limited to 60 persons and is by reservation only. As of Monday, the event is sold out, according to the website.

According to the WOAHO, Brown graduated from West Orange High School in 1897 and went on to attend Howard University, where she was one of the original nine women who founded the Greek-letter sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority Incorporated in 1908. Brown earned her master’s degree from Columbia University in New York.

“I am excited for this first official Juneteenth holiday in New Jersey and to recognize a homegrown historical figure” WOAHO president and AKA member Althia Tweiten said.

“Juneteenth is a day to celebrate freedom, however, we must loudly proclaim for those who didn’t get the memo, ‘We are still free,’” added Brent Scott, WOAHO historian.

“In this time of unprecedented vote suppression laws being enacted from Texas to Florida, Iowa to Arizona, aimed squarely at disenfranchising African American voters, we must not rest on our past successes, but forge ahead just as boldly as our forebearers,” Scott said.

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