Charles McMillan
2:00-3:30 pm | Friday | June 19

LOCATION: Second African Baptist Church, 123 Houston Street, Greene Square

Program and Reception: Free to all REGISTER

(Optional Second African Baptist Church guided tour: $15) REGISTER

Registration required by June 10

Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when more than 2,000 United States soldiers arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas to announce to a quarter million enslaved Black people that they were free. Known as Juneteenth,

this day of emancipation is celebrated across the nation and was made a federal holiday in 2021.

On January 12, 1865, General William T. Sherman met with twenty Black religious leaders at Second African Baptist Church in Savannah, asking them what they wanted and needed in their newfound freedom. Land—the means by which to make an independent living—was the answer. So Field Order No. 15 was conceived, promising “forty acres and a mule.”

Charles McMillan, managing partner of McMillan and Associates and a Savannah native, leads this observance of Juneteenth at the historic Second African Baptist Church, followed by a complimentary reception of traditional Juneteenth fare.

An optional guided tour of the church is available for $15 per visitor.