While there’s actually been a cadre of wonderful Juneteenth festivities scheduled all around the Delaware Valley, the majority of them have been held prior to the actual federal holiday, which this year, falls on a Wednesday. One of the organizations that hosts probably the largest Juneteenth Festival in the area presented their “Honor the Ancestors Breakfast” pre-observance to Juneteenth Day, Friday, June 14, 2024. Helen Salahuddin, Esq., the Chief Operating Officer for the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival at Malcolm X Park, explained the backdrop of how and when Juneteenth Day started getting recognized and observed in Philadelphia before it became a federal holiday.
Helen stated, “I’ll focus on a bit of the history of Juneteenth in Philadelphia as I get more into my comments. Let me start by saying every year during this Honor the Ancestors Breakfast, we select one, two, or three Ancestors who’ve made the transition in this past year, and we honor them. This year, we honored Brother Robert Dickerson, Co-Founder of the African Dance and Drum Ensemble, Paula Peebles, President of the National Action Network, Philadelphia Chapter, and Historian Dr. Charles Blockson from Temple University. Last year, we honored our ancestor, La Diva Davis, a long-time dance instructor at CAPA, the High School for Creative and Performing Arts in Philadelphia. During the June 14, program, the Ali Salahuddin Education Award was given to the United Negro College Fund. We also gave a certificate of appreciation and a donation to Malcolm X Park, the Friends of Malcolm X Park, because they have been so gracious in allowing us to host our event at Malcolm X Park. They’ve been very supportive and worked along with us.”
The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program has done a wonderful job creating a rendition of Malcolm X and his wife, Betty Shabazz, that can be seen by all who visit Malcolm X Park, 52nd and Larchwood Streets in West Philadelphia. For those who came out on Sunday, June 16, 2024, for the actual observance of Juneteenth, they enjoyed a Children and Youth Pavilion targeting our young ones sponsored by Children’s Hospital. There were all kinds of resource tables available, vendors with delectable food and other products on sale, a stage with fantastic performances all day, after a parade led by our own Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who was the Grand Marshall.
Helen Salahuddin gave credit to all those who are hosting Juneteenth celebrations. She also shared that to the best of her knowledge, the Germantown Juneteenth Festival at the Historic Johnson House (which this year took place on Saturday, June 15) was the first Juneteenth observance in Philadelphia, of note. Connie Swinson and her team started hosting the Germantown Juneteenth Festival 21 years ago. Salahuddin continued, “In 2014, Kenny Gamble, Raheim Islam, and some others brought my husband Ali on board to sort of man a cultural committee, Philadelphia Community of Leaders. They wanted to create a cultural component, and he was asked to create the Juneteenth Parade and Festival. Michael Rasheid and Kofi Asante came in and produced that parade from 2014-2018. At that time, the event was located in Center City Philadelphia, actually more so in Olde City. After the 2018 parade, Ali and Michael Rashid, wanted to really bring that creation into our community. They came back to the planners and said they didn’t want to do the downtown parade anymore. They wanted to do a parade in the community.“
52nd Street was chosen because it is the longest and oldest largely African-American commercial corridor in Philadelphia. The parade started at 52 and Parkside, and they just marched on down til they got to Malcolm X Park, and the rest of the excitement unfolded there. The first parade for Juneteenth coming out of West Philadelphia took place in 2019. Then, we all know what happened in 2020 and 2021. The whole world got shut down due to Covid.
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