A month of Kennett Square Juneteenth celebrations continued on June 22 with an African Marketplace at the Creamery of Kennett Square that featured 25 stalls ranging from businesses to local organizations promoting their work, their talents and their causes.

Despite the nearly 100-degree heat, those who attended enjoyed one-of-a-kind, handmade clothing and accessories made by artisans, as well as two food trucks, a photo exhibit, all day DJ, Double Dutch, drummers and an acting performance.

The festivities began with remarks given by Kennett Square Borough Council President Bob Norris; Crystal Crampton, president of the Kennett Underground Railroad Center; and Cheryl Miles of Kennett Area Community Service (KACS).

A storytelling from To God B the Glory Productions entitled, “On Juneteenth: The Reason Why We Celebrate,” did just that by telling the story of the Juneteenth holiday, that celebrates June 19, 1865, the day Union troops finally reached Galveston Bay, Texas to inform enslaved people of their freedom – over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was effective.

Miles, who serves as KACS’ Community Housing Development director, shared that the event was aimed at celebrating the history and culture of Juneteenth and of the Black community in Kennett and surrounding Chester County.

“We want to make sure that we are communicating this is everybody’s celebration, and everybody’s history because it is about signifying that no one is legally bounded in slavery,” Miles said. “There’s one thing to be free by law, it’s another to be free by systems.”

This distinction of freedom by law and freedom by system was reinforced throughout the event by the many area organizations who were represented. Black Women of Chester County in Action was represented at two tables at the event -- one for the #OurVoiceShouldBeHeard team and one that focused on maternal health and wellness with local non-profit, The 4th Trimester MAHMEE (Maternal Advocates Helping Magnify Education and Empowerment). The maternal health table interviewed attendees about their birth experiences, as a way of shedding light on the Black maternal and infant mortality crisis and other discrepancies in maternal and postpartum healthcare.

The #OurVoiceShouldBeHeard table provided ballot education and voter registration to attendees. Rev. Dr. Deborah Tanksley-Brown said it was important to offer voter information at the Juneteenth celebration.

“Juneteenth is our liberation,” Dr. Tanksley-Brown said. “What comes with that, what we had to wait for was the progression of our liberation, which comes with our vote. I have a responsibility and an obligation to my ancestors to do what they were not able to do, that’s why we’re here.”

Other organizations in attendance at the event included MLK CommUNITY of the Greater Kennett Area, the Kennett Underground Railroad Center and United Way of Southern Chester County.

A photo exhibition entitled the 20 Men Project by Sandrien De Bruijn and R.A.C.E. (Racial and Cultural Equity) group PA was on display throughout the event. The project, started in 2020 after the law enforcement murder of George Floyd, creates space for positive images of Black men in the media.

As of February 2024, 32 men have been interviewed and photographed for the project, which has traveled throughout the area including displays held at the State Capitol and Lincoln University.

Miles said the marketplace and other Juneteenth events are creating relationships and connections in order build the community up and work together.

“It’s always about finding ways to bring people together to be able to have conversations, to ask questions of each other,” Miles said. “What can we do next together, with each other’s input, about making a difference in our communities?”

The last of Kennett Square’s 12 Juneteenth events will conclude on June 27, when the Kennett Underground Railroad Center will host author PJ Piccirillo at the Kennett Library beginning at 6 p.m.