LEWISTON — As community members, students, sponsors and speakers filtered into the Benjamin Mays Center at Bates College on Friday, colorful decorations on the walls and big tables welcomed them into the Community Organizing Alliance’s third annual Juneteenth celebration.

Juneteenth, a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth” commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that over 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The day was declared a federal holiday in 2021.

Nathan Davis, director of programs at Gateway Community Services, welcomed attendees to the event and expressed the importance of community gathering. 

“This is an opportunity for us to share with another, share food and also bring together what this community can continue to build together. That’s what Juneteenth means to me,” Davis said.

Event organizer and alliance co-founder Mohamed Khalid added to this sentiment, saying, “We’re here to uplift our community and honor our past.”

Following open remarks, singer Gigi sang the national anthem.

Moderating the discussion  about the interaction of joy and struggle was Dr. Meadow Dibble, founding executive director of Atlantic Black Box, a grassroots initiative that helps communities wrestle with and confront New England’s legacy of colonization and slavery.

“As we celebrate Black joy tonight, we recognize that joy is not a distraction from the struggle, but it is part of the resistance,” Dibble said.

Panelists included state Sen. Jill C. Duson, D-Portland, and historian and journalist Bob Greene. Duson is the first Black woman elected to the Maine Senate, representing District 27. Greene, an eighth-generation Mainer and descendant of William Ruby, an early city leader in Portland, is the author of “Maine Roots V,” which traces his family’s Black heritage and contributions to the state’s history. 

Duson and Greene were asked about their childhoods and their experiences after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that made segregated schools illegal. 

Duson, who was only 1 at the time, recounted the parents in her community organizing to desegregate and advocate for equality in the schools. 

“The battle they were taking on was for me,” she said, attributing the educational opportunities she had to their efforts.

Following the panel, Brian J. Evans, an assistant professor of dance at Bates, performed two original poems and sang “Change Is Gonna  Come,” by Sam Cooke. 

Reflecting on his choice of song, Evans said that in his “more cynical moments” he feels that “change should have come by now.” 

“I’ve come to realize that it’s less of a promise that it’s going to happen and more of a call to action that we need to make it happen,” Evans said. 

Following the performance, keynote speaker Dr. Rosanna Ferro, Bates College’s vice president of student affairs, spoke to this theme, “Resistance Through Joy,” elaborating on the idea that joy in itself is a form of resistance.

Reflecting on her own experiences and work in education, Ferro emphasized how a sense of belonging often leads to success through its fostering of joy.

“Joy is not the absence of struggle, it is not dismissive of pain or injustice; it is what we hold onto despite the struggle. It is what fuels us when we’re defeated. It is what heals us when we feel wounded,” Ferro added.

As they listened to speakers and engaged in discussions with tablemates, attendees enjoyed Southern comfort food courtesy of Bab’s Table LLC of Lisbon.

The evening was also an opportunity to highlight the work of  local organizations who uplift Black, Indigenous and people of color communities in Maine. Among those organizations tabling at the event were Generational Noor of Lewiston, Maine Youth Action Network and Gateway Community Services.