Peekskill residents were treated to an outstanding display of African American cultural traditions in celebration of Juneteenth on Saturday as the city’s Juneteenth Committee put on a parade and festival.  Juneteenth, today June 19, commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African Americans were emancipated in Galveston, Texas. It came two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The parade was led by Grand Marshals Dr. Glenetta Phillips, Kenneth Phillips, and Todd Scott. Grand Ambassadors to the parade will be National Pan-Hellenic Council of Westchester County – Kemba Ellerbe, President

Dr. Glenetta Phillips is a Program Specialist and Practicum Supervisor for the Center for Applied Learning and Career Education at SUNY Westchester Community College.

Kenneth Phillips is a 40 year professional serving as the Fuel and Ash Manager at WIN-Waste Innovations. Kenneth’s mother was the Reverend Jeannette J. Phillips, one of the founders of the Peekskill Health Center. WIN-Waste is located at Charles Point.

Todd Mason Scott is Senior Vice President, Managing Partner and Head of Practices Kyndryl US. Kyndryl is the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services designing, building, managing, and modernizing enterprise IT infrastructure systems. Todd has the global responsibility of managing AT&T, one of Kyndryl’s top clients. Scott was a basketball standout under coach John Moro in the early 1980’s at Peekskill High School where he was the leading ball scorer, holding  the PHS Red Devils all time scoring record with 2057 points.