Thursday, July 17: The Stories We Carry: Harriet Tubman’s Legacy of Liberation 

Limited to 75 people.

• 6:30pm: Panel Discussion featuring:

  • The Brickler Family: Descendants of Harriet Tubman

  • Edda L. Fields-Black, Author of COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War

  • Amber Mitchell, Curator of Black History at the Henry Ford Museum

This panel will explore the challenges of studying and preserving Black history, particularly family history, through the lens of the legacy of Harriet Tubman. 

• 7:30pm: Open House for visitors to speak with panelists and view exhibits 

  • Wine, Beer, and Charcuterie to be provided 

Saturday, July 19: Still We Rise: A July-teenth Celebration (Max 200 Visitors) 

• 9:30am: Shuttle Service Begins (Shuttle on a 25 minute rotation throughout the day) 

• 10:00am: Event and Museum Opens

• 11:00am: Welcome/Speakers 

• 11:45am: Yellow Pocahontas Black Masking Indians Performance 

• 12:30pm: Porch Performance: Tara Alexander 

• 1:45pm: Community Talk: Still We Rise 

  • Legacies of the historical struggle: connecting freedom and fenceline communities.

• 3:00pm: Sister Sula 

• 4:30pm: Event Ends 

July-teenth? Don’t you mean June-teenth?

Enslaved people in St. John the Baptist Parish were not legally emancipated until July of 1864—more than a year and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation- when Louisiana officially abolished slavery. While most communities across the United States commemorate Juneteenth as a symbol of freedom, Julyteenth will be The Descendants Project’s annual program at Woodland Plantation that honors those who were excluded from emancipation by the U.S. government. This event will uplift those who sought and continue to fight for freedom in St. John the Baptist Parish. 

Why July instead of June?

The Descendants Project and Woodland Plantation are located in St. John the Baptist Parish, one of 13 Louisiana parishes that were exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation when it was issued on January 1, 1863. At that time, these areas were under Union control, and President Abraham Lincoln chose to exclude them in hopes of encouraging loyalty to the Union and expediting Louisiana's readmission into the United States. As a result, enslaved people in these parishes remained in bondage even as others across the South were declared free.

Louisiana officially abolished slavery in July of 1864, under a new state constitution. However, this legal end to slavery did not bring full freedom. Formerly enslaved people were denied civil rights, subjected to exploitative labor systems, and targeted by laws designed to control Black life and labor. The legacy of this delayed and conditional emancipation persists today, most visibly through mass incarceration but also through the plantation to petrochemical throughline. Holding our program in July acknowledges those whose liberation was delayed, contested, and redefined, and uplifts ongoing struggles for justice and true freedom.