A cavalcade of Black History lined the circular walk at Tallahassee's Speed/Spencer/Stephens Park near Florida A&M University on Saturday, May 16. The event was a kickoff for this week's Florida Emancipation Day observance.
The Walk Through Living History included a real example of living history: Riley House Museum Founder Althemese Barnes whose ancestry included enslavement.
"My great-grandfather, Austin Porter, was at Waverly Plantation. He was the caregiver. The Hodges, the owners, were up north."
Some history was after Emancipation Day. Famed local pilot and doctor Alex Brickler was enthralling folks young and old with tales of World War Two's Tuskegee Airmen.
"These guys went through a lot more than we had to go through and they managed to make it work and rise above. And that's what is important."
On Wednesday, Emancipation Day concludes with the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation at the Knott House in downtown Tallahassee."
