The Battle of Richmond Visitors Center will hold its third annual Juneteenth commemoration Sunday afternoon. Juneteenth is the federal holiday marking the day in 1865 when a Union general with a Kentucky connection notified slaves in Texas that they were free. Phillip Seyfrit is the curator of the visitors’ center.
“The man who gave the who told the slaves that they were free was filming, recording the Union General, And he's buried in the Lexington cemetery. Now, he never lived in Lexington, but his wife’s family was from there.”
The guest speaker at Mt. Zion Baptist Church will be Debra Faulk, portraying Mount Sterling native Nancy Green, the model for Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. She’ll take questions after her presentation. Seyfrit said Sunday’s event will be a multi-level history lesson.
“A lot of people just don't realize that the Civil War is a spider web. You can't have an effect in one place and it not cause an effect somewhere else. And Juneteenth is a direct result of the American Civil War.”
The event begins at 2:30 Sunday afternoon, and Seyfrit said visitors will come away with a better understanding of the Civil War and the historical African American experience.
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