CLEARVIEW – The ending of slavery in the United States, celebrated annually on or around June 19, will be celebrated on Saturday June 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The celebration will take place at this tiny, but historic, community located about 46 miles west of Eufaula and eight miles southeast of Okfuskee off of Interstate 40.
For more information text Donnie Nero at 918-260-4880.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation into law.
The theme of the Clearview event will be “Planning Today for Tomorrow.”
There will be food, music, souvenirs, and history trivia.
The center of activity will be the old school gym, 112 W. Douglas.
Speakers will include Judge David Martin, who will talk about wills, trusts & estate planning; Keith Biglow, of Biglow Funeral Services & Crematory, who will discuss “death & taxes,” and genealogist Ron Graham, who does family genealogy research. Clearview is one of more than 50 All-Black towns of Oklahoma and one of only 13 still existing.
The town was founded in 1903 along the tracks of the Fort Smith and Western Railroad.
The 1907 population figure of 618 declined to 420 by the late 1930s. The Great Depression and the falling price of cotton had severely crippled the town.
