Although Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it was more than two years later that most enslaved people in the Confederate states were set free from bondage. And even though Juneteenth is a national holiday set aside to celebrate the day in 1865 that slaves in Texas were notified of their freedom, the news of emancipation reached Florida a month earlier on May 20th, 1865.
To celebrate this momentous occasion and to educate people about its agricultural research facility at Chinsegut Hill and its 4-H and Community Development Program activities, Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) Cooperative Extension department held a Farm Fest on May 17th.
The FAMU agricultural research facility at Chinsegut Hill has a barn with horses and cattle. They also grow an assortment of crops such as muscadine grapes, blueberries and various types of vegetables…