Alachua County Community Remembrance Project Exhibit Opening

With speakers, music, and food, the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project (ACCRP) invites all to the opening of a new exhibit in the lobby of the Alachua County Commission Building. After the Civil War, emancipation and the era of Reconstruction began with great hope for newly freedmen and women. Black citizens overcame enormous obstacles to pursue leadership roles, business, education, and farming opportunities. Many white people were resistant to Black equality and resorted to racial terror and mob violence to suppress Black voters and deny their rights. Between 1882 and 1930 Florida had the highest rate of lynchings per capita. This exhibit tells the truth about our history, and the legacy it created of racial inequity we continue to struggle with today.

The City of Gainesville’s month-long “Journey to Juneteenth” celebration, from Florida Emancipation Day (May 20) through the widely-recognized Juneteenth holiday (June 19), honors the long and turbulent journey to freedom, while staying true to our history of Florida Emancipation on May 20.