Black Musician's Experience With KKK Members Part Of Vienna's Liberty Amendments

VIENNA, VA — Vienna's second annual Liberty Amendments Month continues through July 19, highlighting a different Liberty Amendment each week. This week focuses on the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in 1865.

The month-long celebration kicked off this past weekend with a Juneteenth celebration celebrating the end of slavery in 1865. Town offices were closed for Juneteenth and Liberty Amendments Day Monday.

The spotlight on the 13th Amendment continues as Madison High School history students present capstone project reports on local people who crossed between slavery and freedom. Students will present their reports at the Vienna Community Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The community center event will also feature a lecture led by Daryl Davis. Davis, a Black musician, had an experience with prejudice and decided to go on a quest to find the source of the hate. Davis attended Ku Klux Klan rallies and formed relationships with Klan members, many of whom gave up their beliefs and let the white supremacist group after getting to know him. Davis graduated from Howard University with a degree in jazz and performs as a pianist, vocalist, and guitarist with The Daryl Davis Band. The lecture is presented by Church of the Holy Comforter.

In between special events, residents can see a 13th Amendment museum exhibit at the Freeman Store and Museum and the Vienna Community Center during operating hours as well as a 13th Amendment Flash Card Quiz outside the two facilities. Historic Vienna, Inc. also has a self-guided tour of contributions of Vienna’s African Americans from 1867 to 2006 by longtime residents Sylvia Taylor and Gloria Runyon.

Once the weekend arrives, head to the Vienna Town Green for a 13th Amendment mini-fest. The mini-fest will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday with children's games and activities, vendors, food trunks, children's performers, and live music including the 7 Bends String Band.

Liberty Amendments Month was started in 2021 by Town Manager Mercury Payton to recognize several Constitutional amendments that gave rights to people previously excluded. Other Liberty Amendments to be spotlighted in coming weeks are: the 14th Amendment in 1868 granting citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. and reaffirming the right to due process, life, liberty, and property; the 15th Amendment in 1870 protecting the right to vote for people regardless of race, color, or past servitude, and the 19th Amendment in 1920, giving women the right to vote.