PHILLY SKYLINE SHINES as Philadelphia Celebrates JUNETEENTH 2021 - Lighting Up Philadelphia!! Sunday June 13 thru Saturday June 19th

By Gloria DULAN-Wilson

Hello All:

When I was a kid in Oklahoma City, OK, I remember getting ready to the highlight of summer - JUNETEENTH!! My mom, all my neighbors, relatives, and friends would begin planning weeks in advance  for JUNETEENTH - what we were going to cook, where were were going to do the cook out - usually at Lake TenKiller, who was bringing what.

 

As a little person, I remember gorging myself on fried chicken, cakes, pies, and anything any of my relatives and my mom cooked - and then running up and down the park with my sister and cousins playing games - jacks, tag, dodge ball, hide and seek - a day of fun.  

 

It was not until I was in the 6th grade that I, and my classmates, were told the real story behind Juneteenth.  Mr. Hancock, our 6th grade teacher, told us that Juneteenth came about because a dirty trick was played on Black people in Texas to keep them as slaves for an additional two years.  We each had to write an essay about what we would do if we found out that we had been kept in slavery while everybody else was free. I don't think any of us thought about holding a celebration.  

 

Thank goodness our brothers and sisters saw fit to celebrate the end of slavery in the US.  And we've now been keeping up the the tradition for 156 years!  And nobody does it like Philadelphia on the East Coast.

Philadelphia Celebrates JUNETEENTH 2021 - Lighting Up Philadelphia!!

Hello Philly!! Are you ready!  Philadelphia Skyline Shines for JUNETEENTH Launches on Sunday, June 13th

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection is making history once again!!

It's the 156th Anniversary of JUNETEENTH, and the Philadelphia Juneteenth Family is lighting up the sky for the next seven nights, from June 13 through June 19, leading up to the most spectacular JUNETEENTH CEREMONY EVER!! 

So have your cameras ready as we gather to light up the City's skyline each evening at dusk.   Try to get as many of them as possible because they are scattered throughout Philadelphia on our most iconic buildings - see the list below.

 

PHILLY SKYLINE SHINES is not only a beacon for Black People, but for people the world over  who may have faced oppression, and are now celebrating their own JUNETEENTH.  Named in honor of the great exponent for Black autonomy and liberation, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, the Garvey Freedom Lights, is an inspiration to maintain that spark of unity, freedom, progress and liberation he engendered in more than 12 million African Americans nearly 100 years ago, in 1923.  It's a celebration of the progress we've made as a people and what we are doing moving forward. 

Philadelphia has led the field in JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION on the East Coast for more than 30 years.  

 

The history of JUNETEENTH stems from the fact that during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves beginning on January 1, 1863.   However, enslaved Black people in Texas did not find out about being free until two years later when, on June 19th 1865, Col. Granger made the announcement at a plantation in Galveston, TX.  Thousands of Black people continued being enslaved until that day.  The news was received with extreme jubilation and celebration - and immediately became known as JUNETEENTH - a conflation of June and the number 19.   

Traditionally, JUNETEENTH was originally celebrated in the South and Southwest - Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, etc. -  and other parts of the United States with parades, picnics, family reunions, entertainment, and other ceremonies.  Three years ago JUNETEENTH became a state holiday in Pennsylvania; and in Philadelphia it is observed with businesses closing, and with those employees taking it as a paid holiday.  This year the 19th on a Saturday,  so the holiday can be taken on Friday, June 18th.   Look for announcements about  additional events and celebrations around the City - both live and virtual.

Below is a partial list of locales where you can see the Juneteenth Light Up The Sky Buildings:

 

BoatHouse Row                  Independence Blue Cross

Ben Franklin Bridge           North Broad Street

Airport Tower                      Parx Casino

Live!  Casino                       FMC Tower

PECO Crown Lights           Cira Centre

Rivers Casino                     Liberty Place One & Two

Live! Casino                       Pennsylvania Convention Center

Lincoln Financial Field      Citizen Bank Park

Wells Fargo Center

While JUNETEENTH is a celebration about Black liberation, all are invited to participate and celebrate with us.  

The best time to see PHILLY SKYLINES SHINE is dusk - around 8:30 PM, starting today, Sunday June 13th!!

Make sure you share this info with your friends and family - support the JUNETEENTH ACTIVITIES around the city - this is a wonderful part of our heritage and our history. 

NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria DULAN-Wilson