The Shelton High School band performed jazz standards to an audience at a corporate park in Shelton Wednesday night. A choir of high school students sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
Drawings, and factoids of African American leaders compiled by students, adorned the walls.
The tribute marked Shelton’s second annual Junteenth celebration.
Gregg Johnson, president of the Valley NAACP, which covers the Naugatuck Valley, said the city of Shelton has accepted the holiday, despite its past racial tensions and ongoing efforts by the federal government to deemphasize the role of the Black race in American history.
“I think it's a beautiful thing. It shows how far we have come, but we still have a long way to go,” Johnson said.
Juneteenth marks the end of slavery, on June 19,1865 shortly after the end of the Civil War. Soldiers from the Union Army notified enslaved people in Galveston, Texas they were free. The date, long celebrated by African American communities throughout the United States, became a federal holiday in 2021.
Shelton celebrated Juneteenth for the first time on a city level in 2024. High school students, including Latifa Ndikumana, spoke about what the holiday meant to them.
“It reminds us of a painful part of our nation's history, but also gives us hope for a better future,” Ndikumana said.
Black Union Army soldier from Connecticut
Sgt. Charles S. Tatten served in the 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment, and lived in nearby Ansonia at the time.
Tatten enlisted in 1863. When the Civil War ended, he was one of the soldiers who notified enslaved people in Texas they were no longer enslaved.
His great great great grandson, Marc Strickland, said he shares his ancestor’s story not only because of his historic significance, but what he was up against.
“In the Civil War, Black soldiers were executed on site,” Strickland said. There were no prisoners of war, and we're not even talking about the chance of being forced into slavery again.”
Tatten would later become what is believed to be the first Black police officer in Ansonia.
Legacies of racism in town and online
The legacies of racism are close to home as well, according to Gregg Johnson, president of the Valley NAACP. Johnson said African Americans would warn each other to stay away from Shelton, just a few decades ago.
In 2019, a middle school student from Shelton was accused of spitting on a Black visitor at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The incident led to sharp criticism by Johnson over how the student was to be punished for their actions. Connecticut Public also reported on another student in Shelton who wore blackface during the same year.
Immacula Cann, the 2024 grand marshal for the Juneteenth Parade in Bridgeport, said Juneteenth is needed especially since local social media pages advertising the holiday end up getting racist comments.
“We may have individuals who are trying to take that away, in terms of, that Juneteenth shouldn't be celebrated, I think more than ever, this is where we really celebrate it,” Cann said.
Yet, the holiday has now become a part of the city’s annual line up of cultural events. Various local officials, including Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, have not only accepted the holiday, but have become enthusiastic supporters.
Johnson said the city has taken sincere steps to becoming a more inclusive place. While he said racism is still a fact of life in some situations, so is the Valley NAACP’s efforts to fight it.
“It still rears its ugly head in some areas, but not as loud as it used to (be),” Johnson said. "The work still continues, and we still continue to educate people on equality and justice, and everybody deserves the right to equal opportunity. “
