Long Island Church Hosts Juneteenth Celebration Rooted In Excellence

FREEPORT, NY — Zion Cathedral, at 312 Grand Ave. in Freeport, will host UBORA 2026: A Celebration of Black Resilience in celebration of Juneteenth.

The event, presented by Bishop Frank Anthone White and the UBORA 2026 Committee, will begin with a marketplace at 2 p.m., followed by an awards celebration at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

For Amityville native Sherri Tatum, UBORA 2026 is more than a Juneteenth celebration. It is part of a family and church legacy that has shaped her life since childhood.

Tatum, chair of the UBORA 2026 planning committee, said “Ubora” is a Swahili word for excellence — the idea around which the event was built.

“It was out of that whole notion of excellence that we at Zion decided to honor and celebrate Juneteenth," Tatum said.

The celebration is now in its sixth year. Each year, Zion Cathedral honors people from the broader community who are making a positive impact in their fields, from faith and business to music, law, medicine, public service and youth leadership.

“We decided to have these awards called UBORA Awards, awarding people who are serving in excellence or working in excellence, or whatever it is that they’re doing that is doing it well and in excellence, and it’s also aiding our community,” Tatum said.

Remembering History, Celebrating Freedom

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Tatum said Zion Cathedral’s celebration is rooted in that history, but it is also meant to connect the past to the present.

“We want to always acknowledge our ancestors, what they went through, all right, and celebrate the fact that we are free,” Tatum said. “We are descendants of slaves, and but we are free now. We have our liberty.”

For Tatum, UBORA is not only a day of music and awards, but also an opportunity to teach history in a way that is joyful, public and community-centered.

“That’s important for us to remember and to learn, because a lot of our history isn’t taught in traditional American schools," Tatum said. “This is an opportunity for us to celebrate our freedom, celebrate our accomplishments, and celebrate the things to come."

Honoring Community Excellence

This year’s honorees include Mother Reather Lewis, The Adams Family, Karine Apollon, John David Bratton, Glenn Gibson, Cina Mitchell, Catherine Hardwick and Bishop W.R. Whitaker II.

Tatum said the honorees are selected through a committee process, with nominations reviewed each year. The categories and recipients change annually, she said, allowing the event to spotlight a wide range of people whose work reflects excellence and service.

The committee also makes it a point to recognize young people, Tatum said, because UBORA is meant to show children and teens what is possible.

“We have every year, we make sure that we honor our youth, because they are our future,” she said. “We really want our youth to be exposed to greatness.”

Tatum said past honorees become part of a Council of Elders, which allows Zion Cathedral to stay connected with them after the awards ceremony. Those prior honorees can provide input, offer advice and help nominate future award recipients.

“We want to celebrate all those who are contributing to the community at large,” she said. “We’re just one church, but we are community.”

The awards celebration will begin at 7 p.m. upstairs in the cathedral. Tatum said attendees can expect a lively ceremony with a grand processional, African drummers, African dancers, flaggers and, for the first time at Zion Cathedral, stilt walkers.

A Zion Cathedral Legacy

For Tatum, Zion Cathedral is not just the host site. It is part of her family’s story.

She was born and raised in Amityville, but said Freeport has always felt like home because of her family’s deep ties to Zion Cathedral. Her father, the late Bishop Frank Anthone White, served as the church’s pastor for many years. Her mother, Dr. Juliet White, was also a longtime church leader. Her brother now leads the church.

“This is my home, it’s my legacy,” Tatum said. “It’s the church that I grew up in. It’s the church where I was married.”

Zion Cathedral, formerly known as Little Zion, recently celebrated its 97th anniversary, Tatum said. She said the church began as a Bible study with a few women and grew into a major Freeport institution.

The church has served the community through worship, youth programs, emergency support, food assistance, digital literacy programs and a longtime summer basketball league started by her father, Tatum said.

“The church does a lot in the community, and for the community, and the community is welcome,” she said. “You don’t have to be a member to participate in a lot of the program that’s done there.”

Celebrating Black Resilience

UBORA is meant to recognize struggle without allowing struggle to be the only story, Tatum said. The event is also about joy, achievement, faith and gratitude.

“We’ve had discrimination,” she said. “There’s been atrocities committed, but we’re resilient, and we bounce back, and we can do that by helping each other, celebrating each other, and keep going.”

Past celebrations have drawn people from Long Island, New York City and beyond, Tatum said. She said the purpose of UBORA can be summed up in a message of remembrance, gratitude and collective pride.

“It’s all about celebrating each other, remembering where we came from, our ancestors, the struggle, appreciating it, and being thankful for where we are, what we have,” she said.