As the nation prepares to mark Juneteenth on Friday, Tallahassee will be reminded of its own emancipation milestone on May 20, the day enslaved people in the city learned they were free.
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Historic cemeteries in Leon County’s Welaunee area offer a glimpse into the region’s history of slavery
Our local history of slavery is preserved, in part, through historic Black cemeteries tucked within the Welaunee area — Munree, Hickory Hill and Clifford Hill. They’re maintained by Wilbert Ferrell and other local families.
By the 1860s, Leon County had emerged as part of a booming cotton empire known as “the Cotton Belt,” a region dominated by large plantations where enslaved people made up a majority of the population…