New London — The day after Gov. Ned Lamont came to New London for a ceremonial signing of a bill making Juneteenth a state holiday, the city continued its celebration of the holiday — a commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, and thus a celebration of freedom — on Saturday at the Hempsted Houses.

Connecticut Landmarks has been holding an event at the historic site at Jay and Hempstead streets for the past eight or nine years. On June 19, 1865 — more than two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation n the Civil War — Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to proclaim freedom for enslaved Black people.

"Although we had that Emancipation Proclamation long before June 19th, it really meant nothing if there were no federal forces," said Joseph McGill of South Carolina, who is Black and has been coming to the Juneteenth celebration here for the past six years. He has a background in heritage work and is a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, S.C., in addition to being founder and director of the Slave Dwelling Project, according to the project's website.

As founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, he travels around the country inhabiting spaces that enslaved people inhabited, and on Friday night, he slept in the garret of the Joshua Hempsted House, where enslaved farmer Adam Jackson lived in the early 1700s.

But before sleeping there, he sat around a campfire on the grounds having conversations about racism, anti-critical race theory measures, white supremacy, the Constitution and more, with a group he called a microcosm of the diverse crowd seen Saturday.

McGill was involved in finding the keynote speaker for Saturday: Ifé Franklin, a Black multidisciplinary artist who lives in Boston, whose work is about African and African-American ancestors and trauma.

"My ancestors gave their life so I could be standing here with no scars on my back," Franklin said. And while she said we've become comfortable with having no scars, which is what our ancestors wanted, we shouldn't be "so comfortable we're not willing to sacrifice."

She spoke of generational trauma and the importance of learning from history.

Citing the words of her grandmother, she said, "If you don't want your dirty laundry to be seen, then keep your drawers clean. It's that simple. None of it is rocket science."

Friday evening included the screening of Franklin's short film "The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae," which she debuted on Juneteenth last year. It's based on the book she wrote about Willie Max Lenox, a woman enslaved in Virginia in the mid-1800s. Franklin said there will eventually be a full-length film, that right now it's three of 17 scenes.

Playing Willie Mae's mother in the film is Tammy Denease, who is Black. On Saturday, as she has done for Juneteenth in the past, Denease portrayed Joan Jackson, mother of Adam Jackson.

Lining the Hempsted Houses property were informational booths from the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, Public Art for Racial Justice Education, New London Landmarks, Connecticut Freedom Trail and more. The event was supported in part by the New London branch of the NAACP and the nearby Opportunities Industrialization Center, or OIC.

The Juneteenth celebration also included a petting zoo and activities for kids, food trucks, the ability to go into the Hempsted Houses to learn more, and musical, dance and spoken word performances.

"It's Juneteenth; we're here to learn a little something," Felicia Hurley said at the beginning of the day, as she welcomed people under the tent on the lawn by playing a djembe drum, dancing and teaching about the drum.

Emcee Curtis Goodwin highlighted how great it was to see parents bringing their kids, saying the most important thing we can do to dismantle racism is to "protect, encourage and inspire our youth to be better than we are."

Nicole Thomas, assistant site administrator for the South East Region at Connecticut Landmarks, wore a shirt that said: "Juneteenth: Free-ish since 1865." She said systems built on slavery still exist and there's "a lot of undoing that has to happen," and that Connecticut Landmarks is committed to keeping these "courageous conversations" going.

e.moser@theday.com