Join Leon County Government for an engaging and interactive discussion about Florida Emancipation Day, which is recognized each year on May 20. The lecture will feature a panel of local professors and historians in conversation about how Florida Emancipation Day was celebrated in the past and how Leon County citizens can remember and celebrate this historic day now and in the future.

Emancipation was proclaimed in Tallahassee-Leon County on May 20, 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed those enslaved in southern states. Communities around the state began holding annual emancipation celebrations on May 20, a tradition that continues today. In 2020, Leon County became the first county in Florida to officially recognize Florida Emancipation Day.

The panelists include Dr. Andrea Oliver, assistant professor of history at Tallahassee Community College, and local historians Gloria Jefferson Anderson and Hunter Hill. This program will be moderated by Althemese Barnes, founder and executive director emeritus of the John G. Riley Center & Museum.

The Leon County Library Lecture Series is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.