Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994                   TAG: 9406180002
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

JUNETEENTH: '4TH OF JULY FOR BLACK PEOPLE'

Carol Crawford Smith, coordinator of Virginia Tech's Black Cultural Center, described the Texas celebration of Juneteenth National Freedom Day.

Smith hopes to bring the same level of excitement here, as the university's black community sponsors its first Juneteenth or Emancipation Day celebration. Festivities will run from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday on the Henderson Lawn.

Juneteenth, also called Jun-Jun, marks the day slaves learned they were free. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, but news did not reach slaves in Texas until June 19.

Slaves in Virginia heard the news almost immediately, but most people wait until June to celebrate.

Summer has an air of freedom to it, Smith said. The warm temperatures also make outdoor celebrations more appropriate than if it were held in January, Smith said.

"This should be a day of fun, food, families and dancing," she said. "The key word should be fun."

Heather Brown, a graduate assistant at the Black Cultural Center, will read an oral history of Juneteenth. Vendors from Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia will display Afro-centric merchandise.

Tech's Black Female Coalition will offer African face painting and give children African names. Fu Kwan, a Tech undergraduate, will demonstrate his tae kwon do skills.

Entertainment will start at 3 p.m. The Ujima Dance Company, choreographed by Smith, will dance to a song by Plunky and Oneness, a Richmond jazz band. The band will continue, with audience members invited to join in the dancing.

People are encouraged to bring blankets and to dress comfortably. If it rains, the event will be moved to Commonwealth Ballroom in Squires Student Center.

The Black Cultural Center and the Black Student Alliance will co-sponsor the event. For more information, call the cultural center at 231-5355.