On Sunday, June 19, 2022, at 5:00 pm, Juneteenth was again celebrated at Collins Park at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum, located at 622 Sir Walter Raleigh Street in Manteo.   Tshombe Selby, a beloved native of Manteo and professional opera singer, returned this year to again sing The Songs of Freedom using the front porch of the museum as his stage.   Juneteenth,
made a Federal holiday last year, is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of enslavement in the United States.  On this day, more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was proclaimed ended in Galveston, Texas. The day is also sometimes called Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day.

The Pea Island Preservation Society, Inc., PIPSI, held the event this year again in collaboration with the Don and Catharine Bryan Cultural Series and with support from TowneBank, Outer Banks Dreams Realty, Surfin' Spoon and Godwin and Associates Tax Service. 

​

The concert also included several Roanoke Island community youth who 
participated by reading quotes to uplift the significance of Juneteenth in between musical

selections. 
 

Remembering Juneteenth on Roanoke Island is especially important considering the area’s ties to slavery and freedom.  Roanoke Island was the setting for an historic experiment during the Civil War.  Following the island’s occupation by Union forces in 1862, it became a haven for African American families throughout the region and prompted the establishment of a Freedmen’s Colony at the North end of the island.   The Cookhouse Museum which honors Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers is an ideal location to remember Juneteenth given their ties to the history of slavery and freedom in the area.

​

Over 200 hundred souls gathered on the grounds of Collins Park enjoying a fantastic Summer breeze, sunny skies, delicious ice cream sandwiches compliments of Surfin' Spoon that included vegan and gluten free varieties, inspiring quotes, a spoken word piece by Rev. Dr. Michelle Lewis and amazing uplifting spirituals by the Echoes of Heritage and headliner Tshombe Selby and his special guests! A great time and fellowship was had by all which served as a great reminder of how we are all "better together"! Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for an evening of celebration of freedom!!