The 160th anniversary of freedom for Florida's enslaved people brought hundreds of folks to Tallahassee's Emancipation Day celebration on Tuesday, May 20.
The day began with a memorial. Nearly three-dozen Black union soldiers are buried in the western quadrant of the Old City Cemetery. Their internments came at a time when even graveyards were racially segregated. Today, there are those who insist the sins and mistakes of the past are best forgotten. But Katelyn Palmer, an FSU student affiliated with the school's Civil Rights Institute, had a different take.
"One major thing that I think goes into that feeling of threat is guilt. No one wants to be considered a bad guy or an antagonist in anyone else's story."
Although she considered it impossible to avoid past errors if addressing them is also avoided. Following the graveyard memorial, Emancipation Day activities moved a few blocks east to the Knott House at the corner of Park Avenue and Calhoun Street. Hundreds of people gathered for the traditional reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Brian Bibeau, once again decked out as Union General Edward McCook. Accompanied by members of the Second Infantry Colored Troops, Bibeau delivered President Lincoln's historic document on the very same spot as the real-life McCook, 160 years before.
The significance was not lost on Professor Ralph Noble. He and around 50 students from South Carolina State University were in town for a workforce conference at sister HBCU, Florida A&M University. He thought the event's message was powerful.
"To understand things that happened in the past and knowing your history. Knowing why we hid it and some idea of difficult trends we've had in the past to make sure we don't tread the same pathways. And to look forward to new growth."
Jonathan Grandage is now the public engagement and historic sites development director for the Florida Department of State. He was greatly impressed by the large crowd at the Knott House event, noting that Professor Noble and his students weren't the only out-of-town visitors.
"It's not a local-only event. It's a statewide event and here, a region-wide event. And then we're learning from each other how those places continue it, in addition to the things we know from the national level. So for a historian or an anthropologist studying this today, it's history in the making!"
Florida Emancipation Day 2025. At the very spot where it actually happened, 160 years ago.
