NAACP to Celebrate Emancipation Date

The San Fernando Valley branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People will celebrate the 135th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation as part of the Jubilee Day festivities Sunday.

The Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, president of the Valley branch and this year’s keynote speaker, said he plans to use the occasion to review the past year’s activities of the local NAACP chapter and discuss what’s in store for 1998 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Pacoima.

“We look at Jubilee Day as a marker for the passing of one year and to establish an agenda for African Americans and other minorities in the San Fernando Valley for the next year,” said Broadous, who is also a member of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission and publisher of the San Fernando Valley African American Chronicle News.

“We look at it as a time to reflect that we’ve come a long way, but there’s a long way to go,” Broadous said. “Even in America.”

Established in 1979 by Benjamin Hooks, then executive director of the NAACP, Jubilee Day, held the first Sunday in January, was instituted to commemorate the historic agreement that on Jan. 1, 1863, signaled the end of slavery in the United States.

In that sense, Broadous said the significance of Jubilee Day is that it serves as an “Independence Day” for many African Americans.

“Up to the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans had nothing to celebrate, that is, Independence Day did not have the same meaning for those who were enslaved,” he said.

The free public event will take place from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at the church, 11350 Glenoaks Blvd. in Pacoima.

For more information, contact the church at (818) 899-4357.