A Panel Discussion by Four Authors
On Saturday, August 1, at 2 p.m. the Museum of the Cape Fear will host four authors who collaborated on the book, The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology. They will hold a panel discussion about the observance of Juneteenth. Juneteenth has been celebrated as the final emancipation for all slaves after the Civil War.
“Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19 that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free,” The Brightest Day is a compilation of four novellas written by Lena Hart, Kianna Alexander, Piper Huguley and Alyssa Cole.
Lena Hart is an instructor at the City College of New York. She will speak on the early history of Juneteenth, from its inception in 1865 through Reconstruction.
Kianna Alexander, author of more than 20 titles, will give a presentation on the Gilded Age history that covers nine presidents and includes African American history and black women’s involvement in the suffrage movement. She lives in North Carolina.
Piper Huguley, a professor at Spelman College, will speak on African American life and history around the turn of the century in the southern United States, particularly Georgia and the mid-Atlantic.
Alyssa Cole, who lives in Martinque, serves as an editor of a small university press, will speak on Juneteenth and the African American struggle during the Civil Rights movement, particularly during the Freedom Summer of 1961.
Their goal is to raise public awareness of Juneteenth and its significance to African American history, and to American history as a whole.
The program is free.
For more information about the museum, visit our website at www.ncdcr.gov/ncmcf.