PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Culture Silveria Jacobs urged residents and citizens to celebrate the significance of Emancipation Day by inviting them to Emancipation Day celebrations.
The celebrations begin from June 30, with a re-enactment of the Freedom Run hosted by NIA. “For more details on this you can stay tuned. We will be sending out written press releases and posting the schedule of events, but of course we will have the ecumenical services in the morning as well as a cultural manifestation in the afternoon at the Emilio Wilson Estate,” Minister Jacobs said on Wednesday, June 15.
“It is a day to promote cultural resilience of overcoming all odds under the worst circumstances. We will be doing this, this year under the theme ‘Remember When’ and I would like to cordially invite one and all to come out and enjoy the celebrations,” Minister Jacobs stated.
Emancipation Day is annually observed in St. Maarten on July 1. This holiday celebrates the day when the Netherlands abolished slavery on the island in 1863. France abolished slavery on its part of the island in 1848. The Dutch followed suit 15 years later and abolition took place on July 1, 1863.
