Juneteenth: Connecting the Dots

Juneteenth, Watch Night Service, and the Black Church. These three observances share a historical connection in US Black history. Dr. Rebekah McCloud, Smith Grant Scholar, will discuss these relationships in observance of Juneteenth.

Dr. McCloud is the 2004 recipient of the Rhea Marsh and Dorothy Smith Winter Park History Research Grant sponsored by the Winter Park Public Library and Rollins College. Her project, Across the Tracks: A Collective History of Black Churches of Winter Park, chronicles the history of the six oldest Black churches in Winter Park. Her follow-up to the project, sponsored by the City of Winter Park, is Sacred Places, Sacred History: Black Churches of Winter Park. It chronicles the beginnings of Winter Park and Hannibal Square, the development of the twelve churches, and highlights several of the citizens who contributed to the development of the West Side.

Dr. McCloud, a recognized Black Church historian, is working on a new book about Black churches in the South. She has photographed and collected information on more than 50 historic black churches in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.