Several hundred people surrounded the Gazebo in Nay Aug Park last month for Scranton's first Juneteenth Jubilee.
They heard several local Black activists and allies speak, including Black Scranton Project founder Glynis Johns and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
“Can you hear me,” Johns asked, at the beginning of the event she organized.
The park is more than 120 years old. Home to a public pool, museum, gorge, walking trails, playgrounds and gathering areas, it’s a popular institution in the region. Over the years it has been held an amusement park, a zoo, and was even seen in the 1982 film “That Championship Season,” starring Martin Sheen, Robert Mitchum and Paul Sorvino.
Johns’ recent work leading the Black Scranton Project is proving that there is another institution with just as strong and old roots in Scranton, even if it’s too often been ignored: the city’s Black community.
“There’s so much beauty in being Black from Scranton that people just don’t know,” Johns said.
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