JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — An Emancipation Saturday Celebration took place at Carver Park, where community members joined together for the event’s sixth consecutive year.
The event’s coordinator Melisssa Morrison said the community gathers to celebrate a local tie to the emancipation of slavery that took place in the late 1800s.
“This is our sixth annual Emancipation Day,” she said. “We celebrate Emancipation Day [now] because that’s when Andrew Johnson freed his slaves in this area in Greeneville, Tennessee, on August the 8th of 1863.”
Along with retelling the regional history surrounding emancipation, community members were treated to a hot dog cookout, inflatables, games and live entertainment. Morrison said she hopes to see more community participation at this event in the coming years.
“We would like to have some more participation,” She said. “Just follow us on Facebook, and we’ll be glad just to have more participation.”
