NAACP Flag Raising at Bloomfield College Commemorates Juneteenth Day

In support of the mission of the Oranges & Maplewood NAACP, and in observance of Juneteenth Day, Bloomfield College raised a commemorative flag on the College campus in front of Knox Hall as part of its participation in the Bloomfield Township Juneteenth Celebration to be held in the township on June 18 and 19, 2021.

Befittingly, the double-sided standard size flag was designed to feature the NAACP logo on one side and recognizes Juneteenth on the other side.

“The raising of this commemorative flag on the Bloomfield College campus is very significant to us,” said Marcheta P. Evans, Ph.D., President of Bloomfield College. “As New Jersey’s only four-year PBI, Predominantly Black Institution, this opportunity to support the mission of the NAACP mirrors our values as a diverse community of learners who seek—and would profoundly benefit from—the realization of justice and equality for all people.”

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This event occurred two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The Oranges & Maplewood NAACP, the oldest NAACP branch in New Jersey and third oldest in the nation, planned a flag raising ceremony in each of the 11 Essex County, New Jersey municipalities represented in its branch. Municipalities include: Belleville, Bloomfield, East Orange, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Orange, South Orange, Nutley, Verona and West Orange.