Kenneth Glover only needs to look back four generations to find slavery on his family tree.
“My great-great grandparents were enslaved,” Glover said. “Migrated from South Carolina where the slave ship came in.”
Now, generations later, the Lakeland man is making a plea to have that history recognized.
He is asking the City of Lakeland to honor the plight of his and many others’ ancestors by making Juneteenth a city-observed holiday on which city offices would close and city employees would have the day off.
“Let’s celebrate that we have freedom for everybody,” he said.
Juneteenth, which is observed on June 19 in places that recognize the holiday, marks the end of slavery in the United States.
It became a federal holiday in 2021 and is recognized in cities like Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Haines City, and Bartow — but not Lakeland.
In a Monday meeting, Glover was joined by a few others asking Lakeland city commissioners to recognize the holiday.
“I knew my great grandfather. I remember him as a child. His father was a slave,” Virginia Robinson told commissioners. “Juneteenth is our Fourth of July. And that’s when we begin as Americans. That’s when we share this wonderful country.”