The Ohio History Center hosted its annual Juneteenth Jubilee Day Festival on Thursday.
The event was free to the public and people of all ages were there to celebrate Juneteenth, the federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.
This is the fourth year that the Ohio History Center has hosted this event. The first year it was held at Ohio Village and was modeled after a traditional 19th century Jubilee Day.
Valerie Boyer, the school and inclusive community programs coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, gave opening remarks at the start of the celebration. Boyer led the audience in a singing of “Ella’s Song” and gave an overview of the historical significance of Juneteenth.
"This is a story of agency and liberation and documentation and it's complicated and it's beautiful and it's a part of history. It's a part of who we are and that alone makes it worthy of celebrating," Boyer said.
The festival featured a dance performance from Ohio Black Dance and a play called “A Matter of Conscience” performed by Two Scoops National Theater Company. The event also included a food demo and tasting, history lessons and DJ TrigNo, who emceed the event and played music.
There were also arts and crafts activities throughout the day, including making stenciled bookmarks, paper quilt squares, pinwheels and more.
"This day means so much to me. It means a day of freedom for our people, a day of freedom for Americans, a day of freedom for myself as well, so I'm excited to be here,” said Tonya Smoot, a minister-in-training at Columbus' Union Grove Baptist Church.
