READING, Pa. — Reading commemorated Juneteenth with a flag raising ceremony in City Park.
The federal holiday marks the day back in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Texas to ensure all enslaved people were set free.
It came more than two-years after President Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation.
Friday’s ceremony retold that history and showcased the progress happening everyday.
“There was a decree with the city that they had to hire more police and fire persons of color. The police, it was great, they were hiring people like crazy. Fire, it took a while. When I saw the mayor in the newspaper, the picture of him with Chief Leonard, I don’t have the words for what it meant to me,” said Wynton Butler, president of the NAACP Berks Chapter.
Reading will light City Hall and the Pagoda in Red, Green, and Yellow all weekend long.