Juneteenth festivities celebrate end of slavery in

U.S.
Saturday, June 12, 2010

By JOAN GALLER
Staff Writer

EWING Hundreds of area residents turned out Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates
the end of U.S. slavery in 1865, and to honorlocal African-Americans for years of community service.

St. Johns Baptist Church hosted the event for the third consecutive year at Florence Symons Higgs Park on
Somerset Street, opposite the church.

The festival followed a late morning parade through Ewings streets, starting from Moody Park off Parkside
Avenue, featuring Old Barracks Civil War soldiers.

St. Johns pastor, the Rev. Dr. Vincent H. Jackson, hailed the event for fostering a wonderful awareness of
African-American history and brings the community together.

Ewing Mayor Jack Ball, who gave the keynote speech, said there was no sadder time in our history than
when slavery existed. No human being ever deserved to be enslaved.

He hailed Juneteenth as a day when the words dignity and equality should prevail, as well as respect,
friendship, understanding and acceptance. ... Everyone of us can help make our world a better place.

The mayor presented proclamations for community service to St. Philips Deacon Joseph Burnette and to
Missionary and educator Lorene Williams, and also to the Rev. William Granville Jr., of Eternal Life Church
and founder of the Granville Academy.

Williams dedicated her award to Kesner Dufresne, who died earlier this week, noting he was with her in Haiti
on a missionary trip on Jan. 12 when the earthquake ravaged Port-au-Prince and beyond.

Township Council President Joseph Murphy presented the proclamation to his friend, Mildred Russell, who
was cited as a dedicated educator and St. Johns member.

Ball also unveiled the plaque dedicating Higgs Parks gazebo in honor and memory of Doreitha Robinson
Madden in grateful appreciation of her outstanding dedicated service to the people of the Ewing community.

Madden served on the Ewing school board, as president and vice president of the Ewing Township Council,
and as president of Concerned Citizens of Ewing. She also championed the development of the Higgs Park,
citizens police academy, and neighborhood revitalization projects.

Even though the crowd thinned out a bit in the afternoon, Juneteenth committee members were kept busy
frying fish and serving up ribs, cakes, soft drinks and frozen ices, until they ran out of fish around 3 p.m.
I come every year for the great fish, said Trenton resident Barbara Counts as she waited in line.

Rodney Gaines, a Bordentown resident and member of St. Philips, agreed. I come every week to church
here, but the fish is worth the trip.

Dr. Arthur Page, who retired as Trentons assistant school superintendent, was standing in line for his fish
and pointed to his sister, Jackie Hayes, who was busy cooking. My sister made me come, he laughed,
noting they are members of Mt. Zion Church but wholeheartedly support Juneteenth.

Nearby, as young children frolicked on the playground, Gwen Ragsdale, who co-owns and operates the
Lest We Forget Black Holocaust Museum of Slavery in Philadelphia with her husband, J. Justin Ragsdale,
presented a pictorial exhibit and delivered a riveting lecture on the history of American slavery under a big
white tent.

She brought along the actual shackles used to enslave and control Africans captured in their homeland by
other Africans and sold through various slave traders, black and white, in exchange for weapons,
ammunition and cloth.

Its important to know all aspects of slavery and how it continues to impact African-Americans today, and to
teach our children, Ragsdale told her audience. She pointed to a table holding recent obituaries of young
African-Americans killed by their own people.

For more on Ragsdales museum and her award-winning documentary on slavery, visit
www.lestweforgetmuseumofslavery.com.

URL: http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/06/13/news/doc4c14472cc505f787085792.prt

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