While the federal Juneteenth holiday marked its fourth observance as a U.S. federal holiday, people in the Virgin Islands commemorated 177 years since the emancipation of enslaved people. But this year on St. John, performers of the annual play pointed out a similarity between the two holidays: just declaring freedom, they said, does not make a people free.
The seats were filled at Slim Man’s Parking Lot when the St. John Drama Club performed a revised version of “Set the Record Straight.” For the past several years, the drama club has presented original plays examining various aspects of events leading up to the Emancipation Declaration by then-Danish Gov. Peter von Scholten on July 3, 1848. This year, they examined the 30 years following the declaration and found that little had changed for the formerly enslaved Africans.
“We need to educate ourselves about our history and how we got to where we are today. We will find our ancestors were forced back on the same plantations as contract workers in what would be considered forced labor,” said actress Myrna George.
It wasn’t until the Fireburn of 1878 that the contract labor system was dismantled and slavery under a different name ended, she said. And it was there that the similarities with Juneteenth appeared, also circumstances differed; enslaved people in the state of Texas did not hear about their change in status until two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation.
Author and historian Nadine Marchena Kean served as mistress of ceremonies for Thursday’s event in Cruz Bay. The play was one of several performances meant to evoke thoughts of freedom. There was interpretive dance by students from the St. John School of the Arts, Bamboula-inspired dance by the Caribbean Ritual Dancers, drumming by the Echo People and quadrille by VI for Life.
At the end of the program, Marchena mentioned why some scholars would agree that July 3, July 4 and even July 5 should be considered as part of the V.I. Emancipation story. It took two days for the enslaved people of St. John to receive word that they were then considered free.
“This is a celebration that is critically important to the people, the culture and the heritage of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands- the then-Danish West Indies. St. John is particularly special to me because we talk about those who advocate and we honor those on St. Croix who advocated for all of us. The St. Johnians started it in 1733, but they were the last to know about their freedom,” she said.
Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach, St. John Administrator Shikima Jones-Sprauve, and Sen. Franklin Johnson joined those in attendance.