Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning is pleased to announce the Emancipation Day Celebration at the Knott House Museum on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. The Celebration begins at 9:30 a.m. with a tour leaving the Knott House Museum and traveling to the John G. Riley Center and other African American history sites. At 10:45 a.m., in a tradition dating back to the 1800s, African American Union soldiers will be memorialized at the Old City Cemetery.
Period banjo music will be played in Lewis Park by Howard Pardue while the crowd is gathering. The ceremony will open at the Knott House at 11:30 a.m. with hymn lining led by Deacon John Rush of Horeb Primitive Baptist Church. Hymn lining is a style of hymn singing that was familiar to early African American churches. Master of Ceremonies Sandy Shaughnessy, Director of the Division of Cultural Affairs, will welcome guests, and introduce the keynote speaker David Jackson, Chairman of the Florida A&M University Department of History and Political Science. Announcements of other community events will be made by Joe Thomas, Director of the Walker Ford Center. Brian Bibeau will read the Emancipation Proclamation dressed as Union Brigadier General Edward McCook. Following this, Secretary of State Kurt Browning will give brief remarks on the significance of the event. At the conclusion of the ceremony, everyone will be invited to move across the street to Lewis Park to enjoy a picnic lunch and music by Charles Atkins and Jon Copps. Resource booths, educational displays, and interpreters will be featured in the park from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Emancipation Proclamation was announced in the capital city at the Knott House in downtown Tallahassee on May 20, 1865, more than two years after it was first read in Washington, D.C. General Edward McCook and his Union soldiers were staying at the Knott House immediately after the end of the Civil War, and it fell to him to make that significant announcement. The Knott House Museum, which is part of the Florida Department of State’s Museum of Florida History under the Division of Cultural Affairs, commemorates this important event in Florida’s history annually on May 20.
Special thanks to Hopping Green & Sams, PA, for assisting with the funding of this program. Appreciation is also extended to our partners: the John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture, Walker Ford Center, City of Tallahassee Parks and Recreation, Smith-Williams Service Center, Leon Rifles Historical Reenactors, Po’ Boys Creole Café, City of Tallahassee Information Services, Friends of the Museums of Florida History, Inc., and the dedicated volunteers
The Knott House Museum is located at 301 East Park Avenue, at the corner of Park Avenue and Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, Florida. The historic site is open for tours from Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free and open to the public, but there is a small charge for group tours. Please call 850.922.2459 for more information or visit online at www.museumoffloridahistory.com.
“On behalf of the Florida Department of State, I am honored to be included in the commemoration of this significant event in Florida,” said Secretary Browning".
Period banjo music will be played in Lewis Park by Howard Pardue while the crowd is gathering. The ceremony will open at the Knott House at 11:30 a.m. with hymn lining led by Deacon John Rush of Horeb Primitive Baptist Church. Hymn lining is a style of hymn singing that was familiar to early African American churches. Master of Ceremonies Sandy Shaughnessy, Director of the Division of Cultural Affairs, will welcome guests, and introduce the keynote speaker David Jackson, Chairman of the Florida A&M University Department of History and Political Science. Announcements of other community events will be made by Joe Thomas, Director of the Walker Ford Center. Brian Bibeau will read the Emancipation Proclamation dressed as Union Brigadier General Edward McCook. Following this, Secretary of State Kurt Browning will give brief remarks on the significance of the event. At the conclusion of the ceremony, everyone will be invited to move across the street to Lewis Park to enjoy a picnic lunch and music by Charles Atkins and Jon Copps. Resource booths, educational displays, and interpreters will be featured in the park from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Emancipation Proclamation was announced in the capital city at the Knott House in downtown Tallahassee on May 20, 1865, more than two years after it was first read in Washington, D.C. General Edward McCook and his Union soldiers were staying at the Knott House immediately after the end of the Civil War, and it fell to him to make that significant announcement. The Knott House Museum, which is part of the Florida Department of State’s Museum of Florida History under the Division of Cultural Affairs, commemorates this important event in Florida’s history annually on May 20.
Special thanks to Hopping Green & Sams, PA, for assisting with the funding of this program. Appreciation is also extended to our partners: the John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture, Walker Ford Center, City of Tallahassee Parks and Recreation, Smith-Williams Service Center, Leon Rifles Historical Reenactors, Po’ Boys Creole Café, City of Tallahassee Information Services, Friends of the Museums of Florida History, Inc., and the dedicated volunteers
The Knott House Museum is located at 301 East Park Avenue, at the corner of Park Avenue and Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, Florida. The historic site is open for tours from Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free and open to the public, but there is a small charge for group tours. Please call 850.922.2459 for more information or visit online at www.museumoffloridahistory.com.