MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility hosted a Juneteenth celebration on June 29 that included youth music performances, a barbecue meal, and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Brothers Reflecting Brotherhood Movement mission.
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers made it to Galveston, Texas with news that the American Civil War had ended and slaves were now free. This was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and there are numerous stories as to why it took that long after January 1863 for word to spread to that part of Texas.
At MacLaren, youth, staff, volunteers, and guests gathered on the lawn to hear the music of Cool Breeze and original songs by the youth.
The Brothers Reflecting Brotherhood Movement led the festivities.
The group’s mission is: “A movement of diverse African American young men who strive to embody brotherhood through interactions with other cultures and growth of the mind body and soul in a safe environment. We do our best to find our purpose by gaining knowledge of self and empowering each other through cultural customs as they relate to African Americans. We build community with the concept of brotherhood in the forefront of our minds and hold the cultures of all people in high regard.”
