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Region celebrates Juneteenth Date published: 6/18/2006
By KELLY HANNON A real-estate venture turned into an American history lesson for Norman and Lenetta Schools. Flipping through a magazine eight years ago, the Stafford County couple spied their dream home in an advertisement. It overlooked the Rappahannock River near Falmouth Beach. The architectural style was Federal, their favorite. The roof was slate and the facade was brick--both low-maintenance. The Schoolses decided to go for it, moving from Richmond to Stafford's River Road. Then the sellers mentioned something cryptic about a former occupant. "The people who were selling the house said something about someone famous who had lived in the house and they were kind of using it as a marketing ploy," Norman Schools said. The celebrity was Moncure Daniel Conway, an abolitionist preacher born in Stafford who defied social conventions of the era, helping a third of his father's slaves escape to freedom in 1862. Conway's stand against slavery was commemorated yesterday with a ceremony and permanent marker at his former home, referred to as the Conway House. The site was approved for a marker by the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, a program of the National Park Service. The event was held in connection with the first annual Rappahannock Regional Juneteenth Celebration. It included a festival in Old Mill Park yesterday afternoon. People milled through the park taking in live music, children's activities and educational presentations, including a performance by actress Ilene Evans as Harriet Tubman. Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, the day Union troops informed slaves in Galveston, Texas, that they were freed under the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday has evolved into a celebration of freedom and black heritage and contributions. To the Rev. Hashmel Turner, who represents Ward 4 on the Fredericksburg City Council, the celebration was about "learning our history, to teach our history, to have the truth told and have our young people be a part of it." The Schoolses opened their home, to about 150 guests yesterday morning for the marker's unveiling. Shortly after buying the home, the couple delved into Conway's past, enlisting the help of Stafford resident and history buff Frank White, who had been corresponding with a descendant of a slave freed by Conway.
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