Volunteers are needed to plant and help maintain the gardens and students can obtain service hours. Enslaved people planted fruits and vegetables to supplement the rations given out by plantation owners. They sometimes sold their produce to earn money which enabled some folks to purchase their freedom. Today, community gardens with fresh fruits and vegetables are a way for urban populations to maintain their health and also supplement their diets.
Shaymar Higgs, The Space-Free Art for All, will have demonstrations at the Springhill Lake garden.
The Three Sisters Gardens are located at:
Springhill Lake Recreation Center (6101 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD 20770)
Garden Coordinator - Carolyn Lambright-Davis
At 12:30pm there will be a re-dedication at the Springhill Lake garden to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Three Sisters Gardens
Greenbelt Community Center Garden (15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770) located behind the Community Center Garden Coordinator - Maggie Cahalan
Schrom Hills Park Garden (6915 Hanover Pkwy, Greenbelt, MD 20770), is located near children’s playground area. Garden Coordinator – Effie Levner
Click here to view the Juneteenth Program
“Freedom’s Eve,” January 1, 1863. So many enslaved people waited anxiously for the Emancipation Proclamation to become a reality in Confederate States that the tension in houses of worship and on plantations was overwhelming. Its passage brought much relief and joy on many Southern plantations. Enslaved people in Texas would not learn that they were free until June 19, 1865, when the union army arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform them of the Emancipation Proclamation. It is for the Freedom to all enslaved people/workers that Juneteenth is celebrated each year on June 19th, to commemorate the initial ending of slavery in America, that was completed with the passage of the 13th Amendment.
2021 marks the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth and the Greenbelt Black History and Culture committee in collaboration with the Recreation Department, Old Greenbelt Theatre, The Space-Free Art for All, the Greenbelt Museum, GATe, RUAK, Beltway Plaza Mall and CHEARS -Three Sisters Gardens offers a series of activities and service opportunities to commemorate the ending of chattel slavery in America. A video about Juneteenth will be presented by Delegate Nicole Williams and will be aired on the City’s media channels. GATe will air historical and educational information about Juneteenth during the week.
