Seeing the township’s annual Juneteenth event march on gives Moorestown resident Ashlynn Conley hope that future generations will continue to learn from history and build stronger, more connected communities.
“The fact that this celebration is now in its seventh year shows what can happen when people come together with a shared purpose, and I am grateful and honored that Juneteenth continues each year in Moorestown,” Conley said.
Moorestown’s Juneteenth event began after Conley and township native Jasmine Cartwright met at a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest following the death of George Floyd. They both felt that the conversations about racial justice, education and community shouldn’t end after the protest. They wanted to create something lasting that would bring people together every year to celebrate, learn and reflect. They shared that vision with Kahra Buss, the executive director of the Perkins Center for the Arts, who believed in them from the very beginning and was more than willing to have Perkins’ Evergreen Lawn serve as the host site. After former mayor Nicole Gillespie officially proclaimed Juneteenth in Moorestown in 2022, the Moorestown Juneteenth committee was established to continue growing the event and ensure that it would become a lasting community tradition.
For Conley and Cartwright, it’s been both rewarding and humbling to watch the event grow. They were both young when they brought the idea forward, and they simply had a vision of creating something meaningful for the community. They feel as though they were fortunate to have people who believed in them and gave them the opportunity to make it happen. Watching families return each year, seeing new faces and knowing that Juneteenth has become a recognized tradition in Moorestown is something that they’re both proud of. It reminds them that meaningful change often starts with ordinary people who care enough to take the first step. On a personal level, this year’s Juneteenth celebration is especially meaningful for Conley because her younger brother recently graduated from Moorestown High School and seeing him experience a community where Juneteenth celebrated alongside the values that Moorestown strives to uphold has been special for Conley.
“The Quaker principles of equality, community, peace, integrity and respect for the inherent worth of every person align beautifully with what Juneteenth represents,” Conley said. “ … Black history is American history. It’s a shared history that belongs to all of us, and understanding it helps us better understand our country and one another … Celebrations like Juneteenth invite people to learn, ask questions, appreciate different perspectives and participate in something that brings the community together. At the end of the day, Juneteenth is about honoring history, celebrating freedom and recognizing that understanding our shared past helps strengthen our community today.”
Juneteenth, officially recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, commemorates June 19, 1865, the day enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Moorestown’s Juneteenth celebration featured inspirational sounds from local church members, melodies from the MHS Madrigals, performances by nonprofit Faith in Action! Inc., narratives from Youth Poets Spoken Word, line dancing with Kenny J and music from the Fresh Fire Band. It was all made possible by the collective efforts of the Juneteenth committee that included Perkins, MooreUnity, Curate Noir and community members.
“As we celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, it’s important to remember that when our country was founded, not all men were truly created equal,” said Karen Reiner, president of MooreUnity. “Celebrating Juneteenth year after year reminds us of how far we’ve come as a nation, and the connections and friendships formed at events like this build the path for a future where we’re united in our love of community.”
“It was a nice culmination of the previous six years of work towards this event and every year it keeps getting better,” Buss said. “There were so many incredible interpretations and iterations of what this celebratory event means. It wasn’t just one perspective; it was multiple perspectives all celebrating this amazing thing.”
Members of Faith in Action! Inc. put on an uplifting performance at Moorestown’s annual Juneteenth celebration at Perkins Center for the Arts last month.
