Photo: Commemorating Juneteenth
Sanford Johnson speaks on the history of Juneteenth as Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard, seated left, looks on Saturday during a ceremony at Unity Park. Johnson, a Starkville native who lives in Clarksdale, is the Mississippi executive director for Teach Plus, a nonprofit that supports educators. The ceremony commemorated Juneteenth, when Union soldiers arrived June 19, 1865, in Texas to inform African American slaves they were free. The event also inducted the names of two new honorees at Unity park for their contributions to civil rights and equality — George Washington Chiles and Ernest Henry Jones Jr. Zack Plair/Dispatch Staff
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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