MIAMI \u2014 Juneteenth — Freedom Day — drew young and old to North Miami\u2019s Griffing Park Friday to celebrate freedom, culture and community.<\/p>\n
Vendors set up across the park, offering handmade jewelry and bold statement pieces crafted with African fabrics and beads — items that carry meaning beyond their appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be able to find something that says this is from home,\u201d said vendor Ruky Afanu. \u201cYou\u2019re not from Ghana or anywhere from Africa but you can use these things to say this is us. This is a part of our representation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The holiday commemorates the day the last enslaved African Americans in Texas learned they were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. And while people gathered from different backgrounds, organizers say that\u2019s part of the power of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are all one people,\u201d Afanu said. \u201cOur great grandfathers, ancestors are from Africa. We are one people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Juneteenth is celebrated one day a year, but a group of young ambassadors from different Miami neighborhoods are on a mission to keep that conversation going the other 364 days.<\/p>\n
Constance Robinson, founder of the South Florida Miss Juneteenth pageant, said she created it after realizing how many people were unfamiliar with the holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI created a pageant that had a base in our city so they can spread the freedoms that we share,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
South Florida\u2019s reigning Miss Juneteenth, Ciara Johnson, said visibility is key to keeping the history alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not talked about enough,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe more they see us, the more it gets talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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