Celebrating Juneteenth in Crawford County

We are looking forward to another Juneteenth event this year, one that rivals the successful event we held last year at John Brown’s Tannery. We need your help, however, to make it a success. It is very important that Crawford County shows up in numbers!

This year, on June 19, from 10:00 am to 10:45 am, there will be a walking tour at Greendale Cemetery honoring Civil War Colored Troops buried there.

The highlight of this event will be the dedication of Pvt. Samuel Pratt’s headstone at 10:45 am. In February 1889, Samuel Pratt became the first Black person elected to the Meadville City Council. Pratt was without a headstone, something that we are pleased to help rectify as part of the celebration of America’s 250th birthday – celebrating 250 years of freedom for all Americans.

This solemn ceremony is based on research by Michell Basham, a 1980 recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship and a veteran and retiree from the Crawford County Courthouse.