On Tuesday afternoon, traditional African dancing and uplifting tunes about black heroes who worked to unify blacks around the world filled Emancipation Gardens on St. Thomas, honoring the hard-won freedom won in the Virgin Islands 170 years ago.
Celebrated each July 3, Emancipation Day commemorates the end of slavery in the Danish West Indies.
Leba Ola-Niyi, who organized the event along with other members of the Emancipation Coalition, said that the crowd wasn’t too large early on but that it held steady and grew throughout the day.
The Full Circle band played during the late afternoon with musical artist Gangi taking the stage with the members to sing songs of hope and to honor historical figures such as Marcus Garvey, who through the Pan-Africanist Movement worked to unite black people around the world for social and economic equality.
Empress Addaliah, 16, and her younger sister Empress Atiyah, 15, performed afrobeat dance routines from their troupe Queens of the Earth.
“Without Emancipation Day, we wouldn’t be free,” said Empress Atiyah. “Music is the way I express myself and my culture.”
Older sister Empress Addaliah chimed in, “We wish more people would come and join, since most people in the territory are black and it’s the day we became free.”
Across the park, George Larsen skillfully rang the Liberty Bell as if to permeate the air with the sound of freedom. Celebrating his 69th birthday this July 3, Larsen, who first rang the bell in 1972, said it’s there for everyone to ring as a sign of hope and freedom at the appropriate time.
