After gaining federal recognition, many became familiar with Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the day slaves in Texas were freed.
But, in North Carolina, Emancipation Day is celebrated on January 1st. In Raleigh on Saturday, it was a chance to showcase important history.
Steve Thomas is an example of practice makes perfect. He is a re-enactor who plays the fife.
“I like to say the fife is like Othello you know, it takes a moment to learn, a lifetime to master. I’m constantly learning new things,” he said.
With learning comes teaching. He says even after being a re-enactor for twenty years, there aren’t many Black re-enactors.
“A lot of people don’t understand the history that we’re talking about,” Thomas said. “A lot of people assume that we’re just talking about slaves and being enslaved, which is part of it. But there’s much more to the story.”
He was part of a group at the historic Raleigh Pope House Museum — the home of the first African-American man to run for mayor of a Southern capital during the Jim Crow Era.