Wednesday
June 26, 2024 
The African Diaspora Collective of Bucks County held its third annual Juneteenth Celebration in partnership with the Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle Saturday. The event was filled with music, vendors, and interactive presentations that brought the community together.
According to Juneteenth.com, “Juneteenth is the oldest nationally/internationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.”
Although the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, the final group of enslaved people were not freed until Confederate control of territories had ceased. Freedom finally came for all on June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Tex. to announce that slaves had been freed by executive decree.
Roger Brown, of the African American Museum of Bucks County, was proud to see the community come together to celebrate history.
He said, “this is some history for my people. I think we can all be a little more transparent and together.”
Brown continued, “We all need the same things, so it’s time to put the nonsense behind us.”
Jeannine Delwiche, of the NAACP of Bucks County, emphasized that celebrating Juneteenth is important because it is a “national acknowledgment of the past.”
Taneise Marshall, owner and curator of The Collective by Rae Farrell, started her business at the Mercer Museum’s Juneteenth Celebration. She said that this event has given her the platform to “show community that you can step out and continue to build.”
Sherita Lee, of the Bucks County Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, was at the event recruiting for its youth council. She said she loved “how inclusive the event is. All walks of life and all nationalities can come together and live a different way.”
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