Page 13 - 6-12-15 Frisday's Edition

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
Third Annual Juneteenth Rodeo Planned
Keisha Williams, of Bartow, took part in the Juneteenth Rodeo last year.
Members of the Florida Buffalo Soldiers participate in the grand entrance and flag ceremony.
Bealsville Community Celebrates 150th Anniversary With Festival
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Saturday, June 13th, members of the community will meet for the Third An- nual Juneteenth Rodeo. The event will take place at 5 p.m., at the Aldine Cambee Arena, 1140 Fish Hatchery Road, in Lakeland.
Ms. Doris Moore Bai- ley, Event Coordinator of the event said, “We have people coming from as far away as Odessa, Texas and South Carolina, to participate. It draws anyone who loves the rodeo.”
The event will feature open rodeo speed and roping open events. After the grand entrance and flag ceremony, which will be led by the Florida Buffalo Soldiers, the Bay Area Bandits Mounting Shoot Club will perform a demonstration.
The competitions will in- clude calf roping, barrel rac- ing, pole bending, the PeeWee Stick Horse Relay, and other events. Individuals participating in this event
will consist of five youth ages six and under.
Maria Andrews, of Hillsborough County, will demonstrate Stadium jump- ing.
One of the younger indi- viduals participating in the event this year is 11-year-old Zyarriah Myers. Zyarriah, of South Car- olina, will participate in the Barrel Racing and Pole Bend- ing competition.
The Juneteenth Obser- vance is an African American celebration that came into existence in 1865, with the ending of the Civil War. The event commemorates the an- nouncement of the abolition of slavery. It is named June- teenth because slaves in Texas didn’t learn that they were free until union soldiers arrived in the state in June 1865.
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Eman- cipation Day, is recognized as a holiday in Texas and as a special day of observance in other states.
7 p.m.
The festivities will culmi-
nate on Sunday with a Com- munity Faith Service, beginning at 10:30 a.m., at the Bealsville Recreation Center.
The Bealsville Community
The Bealsville Community came into existence after the Civil War ended and slaves suddenly found themselves free. Many of the slaves, hav- ing nowhere to go, remained on the property of their for- mer masters.
Twelve freed slaves re- mained on the property of their owner, planning their fu- ture. After the Southern Homestead Act of 1866 be- came law, twelve freed slaves who had remained on their master’s property were able to acquire property, ranging be- tween 40 and 160 acres.
Plantation owner Sarah Howell allowed the freed slaves to use horses, mules and farming equipment to create the settlement. They named the community How- ell’s Creek.
The original families in- cluded: Peter Dexter, Bryant Horton, Roger Smith, Robert Story, Isaac Berry, Mills Hol- lomon, Sam Horton, (the grandfather of O. V. Har- grett, Sr.), Jerry Stephens, Neptune Henry, Steven Allen, Abe Messenger, and Mary Reddick. Ms. Reddick was the only woman and the only one in the group who could read and write. Eventually, the settlement was renamed Alafia.
Alfred Beal, the son of Mary Reddick and Frank M. Beal, a white overseer, reached adulthood. Beal set-
tled on land not far from his mother and became success-
ful.
As time passed, some of
the settlers lost their land to foreclosure. Beal purchased the properties and later sold them back to their original owners. He also donated three acres of land to the commu- nity for the first church, the first school, and the first cemetery.
In 1923, the residents of Alafia renamed the commu- nity Bealsville in honor of Al- fred Beal.
Alfred Beal died on his November 25, 1948, on his 89th birthday.
Glover Elementary School
Glover Elementary School opened in 1878. After plead- ing for a new school during the 193s0s, residents of Bealsville raised $1,000 and donated more than ten acres of land for a new school.
It was at that time that the residents renamed the school in honor of William Glover, an African American who do- nated land for the new school.
As a result, the school that came into existence was a 3- room, block structure, con- structed by the county. Pupils from Keysville, Hopewell, Coronet, and Trapnell were transported to the new school.
The school continued re- cruited Glover was born about 1814, in South Carolina. After the Civil War, he moved his family to the area known as Bealsville, where they owned forty acres of land.
William Glover died in 1894.
The school remained in existence until it was closed by the Hillsborough County School District in 1981.
ALFRED BEAL WILLIAM 11/25/1859 — 11/25/1948 GLOVER
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Thursday, June 25th, residents of Bealsville will launch their anniversary cele- bration. The community, founded by freed slaves, is one of the few remaining commu- nities established by African Americans in the country.
Residents of Bealsville will celebrate 150 years of exis- tence with a Birthday Celebra- tion Festival. The celebration will begin at 7 p. m., Thurs- day, June 25th, with a recep- tion at the historic Glover School campus. The school is located at 5104 Horton Road, in Plant City.
On Friday, the school will again be the location for the heritage Festival, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The day of events will also include a BBQ Com- petition, Storytelling and Campus Tours.
Additionally, Dr. Ashley Robertson will conduct a presentation entitled, “A Di- amond In Daytona: the Activism of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.” The event will take place begin- ning at 10:30 a.m., to 3:30 p.m., at the Glover School Campus.
Dr. Robertson is a Cura- tor and Museum Director for the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation-National Historic Landmark at Bethune-Cook- man University, where she is also an Assistant Professor of History.
Dr. Robertson earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Busi- ness Administration from Bowie State University, her Masters of Arts in African American Studies from Tem- ple University. She continued her education at Howard Uni- versity, where she earned her Ph. D. in African Diaspora History in 2013.
Saturday’s festivities will begin at 10:30 at the Bealsville Recreation Center and will feature a Historic Re- enactment, the Historic Marker, and Family Introduc- tions.
On Saturday evening, the celebrants will enjoy the Bealsville Gala at the TECO Expo Hall, Florida Strawberry Fest Fairgrounds. It begins at
DR. ASHLEY ROBERTSON
Bealsville Historic Marker ... Dedicated in May 2013
GLOVER SCHOOL
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