By: Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
In honor of the Juneteenth holiday, the third annual North Carolina Official Juneteenth Flag-Raising Ceremony was held Monday outside the Durham County Courthouse.
This year marked the fourth year since Durham County Government officially recognized Juneteenth as a county holiday, and the third year the Juneteenth flag has been raised in front of county buildings. The ceremony served as the official kick-off to the 20th Annual NC Juneteenth Celebration, set to take place on Saturday, June 21.
A major highlight of the event was the hoisting of the Juneteenth flag by the Montford Point Marines and the Durham County Sheriff’s Honor Guards. The Montford Point Marines were the first African Americans to serve in the United States Marine Corps, training at segregated facilities in Jacksonville, NC, between 1942 and 1949. Over 20,000 Black Marines from this unit paved the way for military integration and made significant contributions to the broader civil rights movement.
The event featured remarks and participation from local leaders including Durham County Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead, Durham County Manager Claudia Hager, and City of Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams. CBS 17 anchor Rod Carter served as the Master of Ceremonies.
Sheriff Birkhead spoke on the deeper meaning of the day: “For me, today is a day to reflect on the long struggle for freedom and equality and to remember the ongoing fight against racism and inequality. Today we confront new challenges, but we are a resilient people.”
Mayor Williams emphasized the city’s role as a model for perseverance and progress by pointing to the evolution of the city of Durham.
“We are not only located in the middle of the state, but I do think that Durham is going to be where the example is set of how we become our own reprise–how we bounce back,” Williams said. “Look back. It has happened before; we’ve been through tougher times than now. We know how to overcome it.”
The Juneteenth flag was raised shortly after the singing of the national anthem by Dr. Charity Godfrey Davis.
A central part of the ceremony was “The Juneteenth Story,” presided over by Attorney Larry Hall, former Secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. Hall explained how enslaved people sought refuge in Union-conquered areas, where they were eventually classified as “contraband of war” and not returned to Confederate slaveholders. These “contraband camps” became places of hope and survival, growing near Union forts throughout the South.
Hall continued by highlighting the preliminary freedom papers: “President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, which took effect on January 1, 1863—right in the middle of the Civil War.
Durham City Manager Bowman “Bo” Ferguson gave a stirring reading of Lincoln’s official proclamation, which declared, “That all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states and territories “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
When the Union advanced throughout the South, the number of contraband camps grew—more than 100 by the war’s end. These camps provided refuge for Black families and later became centers for enlistment into the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Over 200,000 Black men served in these segregated military units.
Among them, 15 U.S. Colored Troops soldiers, eight Union Navy sailors, and three soldiers from other units would go on to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration in the country.
Durham County Commissioner Wendy Jacobs continued the narrative by reading from the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. She detailed how it was passed in the Senate in 1864 and, after strategic maneuvering by the Lincoln Administration, passed in the House in 1865. Though Lincoln signed the joint resolution, he did not live to see its full ratification later that year.
The climax of the historical recounting came with the remembrance of June 19, 1865—when over 4,000 Union Colored Troops accidentally landed in Galveston, Texas, and delivered the news of freedom to enslaved people who had yet to hear it. The moment was cemented with General Order No. 3, which was posted on the door of a local Black church, formally notifying the public of emancipation and the federal enforcement of it.
Phyllis Coley, NC Juneteenth State Director under the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF), closed the ceremony. She reminded attendees of the legislative journey that made Juneteenth a national holiday, including President Joe Biden’s signing into law in 2021.
The ceremony was hosted by Spectacular Magazine, the Triangle Cultural Awareness Foundation, and the Durham County Government.
