Juneteenth at PVCC focuses on freedom, history

Here’s your chance to look back at important moments in history and look around at today’s role models.

Piedmont Virginia Community College presents the eighth annual community Juneteenth celebration today and Saturday in and around the V. Earl Dickinson Building.

Events begin at 5:30 this afternoon with “Tribute to the Ancestors,’’ a lakeside program featuring drumming and both musical and spoken-word performances. A reception will follow.

If possible, wear white or African clothing.

Saturday’s activities will last from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They include drumming workshops, a softball tournament, children’s marketplace, history hunt, historical displays and re-enactments, voter registration and a community art project. Visitors can meet African-American authors, artists and health care professionals.

A performance by Kankouran West African Dance Company will close the event.

Juneteenth, which dates back to 1865, is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery. It celebrates freedom while showing respect for all cultures.

The Juneteenth event is co-sponsored by the City of Char-lottesville, Albemarle County Public Schools, the University of Virginia’s Office of African-Amer-ican Affairs, Charlottesville chapter of the Links Inc., Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP, Boys and Girls Club of Charlottes-ville-Albemarle, Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Summer Camp Program and the African-American Teaching Fellows.

All events are free.

Learn more by calling 979-2786.