The tale of the competing Juneteenth celebrations

On June 17, scores of Philadelphians will march through the streets of Germantown, starting where the country's first protest against slavery was held in 1688.  Daylong festivities will mark the 152nd commemoration of the end of U.S. slavery and center on Johnson House, which once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

At the same time, in Society Hill, many times more Philadelphians are expected to begin parading at Washington Square Park, once known as Congo Square, where Africans were once sold and buried. The parade will pause near the Liberty Bell for the laying of a wreath where George Washington's slave cabins once stood on Independence Mall, and continue to the African American Museum, for a day of celebration.

The two celebrations are the surest indication that the day known as Juneteenth is on the upswing in Philadelphia. But often where there is growth, there is pain.

Officials from the Johnson House Historic Site, hosts of the Germantown celebration — the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival — began marking the day in 2006 and were heartened last year when City Council formally recognized their event. They were miffed last spring to learn that a bigger Juneteenth celebration was being planned for downtown by the legendary record producer Kenny Gamble and community developer Rahim Islam. A cluster of news reports noted that this new parade and festival would be the city's first.

"Juneteenth doesn't belong to anybody," said Onyx O. Finney, chair of the Germantown event. "Anyone is welcome to celebrate it. But don't put out misinformation. Don't say that you're the first festival. Don't be dismissive to others."

Cornelia Swinson, executive director of Johnson House, said she can understand why members of the newer group called themselves the first. "They are trying to promote themselves," she said, wryly.

In May of last year, Finney and Swinson said, they met with Gamble and Islam, who head the Philadelphia Community of Leaders, the host of the downtown parade and festival.

"We thought: Let's have a conversation with them to see if we could do even one event together," Finney said. "That way, it wouldn't look like black folks are always doing competing events."

Things didn't go so well.

"They said, 'Well, Ms. Swinson, you can participate in our parade and ride on a float,' " Swinson recalled. "It was just dismissive."

Gamble and Islam deny advertising last year's inaugural Universal Juneteenth Parade and Festival as the city's first. And they say they aren't interested in bickering with the Germantown group. Some news reports, however, did anoint Gamble's parade the city's first, including an Inquirer article that began: "It took 151 years but an official Juneteenth celebration arrived at Independence Mall with a parade and wreath-laying ceremony…"

"We are just trying to give this day, this celebration, this concept the highest platform we can possibly give it," Islam said. "That's all we're trying to do. It's not about taking away from them, and we wish them all the success in the world."

Gamble said there was neither a disagreement nor a rivalry. "We're just trying to do something," he said. "If it's good for our community, then we want to do it. It's about one thing: How do you get our people out of this slump that we're in? It's going to take a lot, man, to raise our people up. It's going to take generations."

Civil rights lawyer David Kairys, whose wife, Antje Mattheus, is a board member of the Johnson House Historic Site, said that the addition of the downtown Juneteenth parade is welcome but that assertions about it being the city's first insult those in Germantown.

"Nobody owns events like this, but the contributions that people make should be acknowledged," he said. "So calling it the first is a problem."

Juneteenth is underappreciated as a significant event, Kairys said, "so the more, the merrier. We think that slavery was some distant thing that only happened in the South. But it was central in our culture and economy, and it was embraced explicitly in the Constitution."

What the two Juneteenth groups agree on is the importance of celebrating the anniversary, which is often called Freedom Day and African American Independence Day. Its origin dates to June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with word that the Civil War was over, and the last of the nation's slaves learned they were free. This was more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Mayor Kenney issued a statement last week saying Juneteenth serves as a reminder that "we must do everything we can to ensure every child has access to a quality neighborhood public school and quality educational experience beginning at pre-K." His office said he plans on attending both celebrations.

The Germantown festivities take place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., primarily in the 6300 block of Germantown Avenue. The celebration will feature a children's village, cultural marketplace, historic reenactments, food, music, a beer garden, and a panel discussion of the state of black women. About 1,500 people attended last year, and upward of 3,000 are expected on Saturday due to more aggressive marketing, Swinson said.

"I would say come here," she pitched. "This is the place where freedom was fought so hard for. This house, these streets, is where safety was found."

The downtown celebration will run from noon to 8 p.m. Organizers are hoping to attract 30,000 people, up from the 5,000 that last participated, with floats, marching bands, drill teams, food vendors, stilt walkers, African drummers, dancers, and more.

"By being downtown, there were so many young people, people wearing red, black, and green," Gamble said, recalling last year's parade. "There were so many Caucasian people who were lined up to see the Liberty Bell. They said, 'What in the world is Juneteenth?' They never heard of it. I had never heard of it until a few years ago — it was never taught in school. So, we have to take the responsibility to teach our own history."

Beyond the pageantry, he said, lies the desire to make Juneteenth a spark for promoting black pride.

"There is a need for us to do for ourselves, and it's more clear than ever before," said Gamble, a member of the Rock & Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame. "The way for us to change things is to have our own: our own identity, our own communities, or our economy that works with the larger economy."