Hope, Arkansas, June 2023 – Visibility Outreach Touch Engage South Arkansas (VOTE SoAR) collective, the 2023 Hempstead County Juneteenth Celebration organizer, announces the addition of Charles Everett Pace for the Juneteenth 2023 opening reception Friday, June 16 at Historic Washington State Park. Mr. Pace will offer an interpretation of the Emancipation Proclamation's conceptualization and implementation from the perspective of Frederick Douglass, noted abolitionist and friend of President Abraham Lincoln.

“Mr. Pace lives in Southwest Arkansas. So, securing local vendors and talent like him continues our commitment to lift up the values and voices of Black folks,” commented Sylvia Brown, VOTE SoAR founder & community engagement specialist. “We appreciate Historic Washington State Park superintendent Pam Beasley facilitating the engagement.”

The reception in Washington recognizes the town as one of the Southwest Field Offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau).

After the Civil War, field offices were located in areas of heavy Black population where rivers
and large plantations converged.

In addition to Douglass, Pace also presents solo interpretations of the historical and literary figures W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Malcolm X. He is a featured artist on the roster of the Arkansas Arts Council's Arts on Tour roster, which lists a broad spectrum of Arkansas’s finest solo and ensemble performers and individual visual artists.

The 2023 Hempstead County Juneteenth theme is Black Resistance: Celebration of Resilience, History & Liberation, reflecting the Association for the Study of African American Life And History® definition of Black resistance as strategies where Black Americans’ can mobilize resources, human and material, to establish safe spaces where Black life can be sustained, fortified, and respected.

Persons and organizations interested in attending the reception should pre-register at https://tinyurl.com/HempCoJuneteenthFriSat.