Rev. Brian Riley to be Guest Preacher at 2024 Emancipation Proclamation Day Services, Pastor Gervais Barger Peace to be Named Person of the Year

Rev. Brian Riley to be Guest Preacher at New Britain’s 2024 Emancipation Proclamation Day Services, where Pastor Gervais Barger is to be Named Person of the Year.

The Emancipation Proclamation Service, in celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, is to be held on January 1, 2024 at 2:00pm at Peace Missionary Ministries.

Organizers for the upcoming event call people to the service with the words of Ephesians 4:3–Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in bond of peace.

Pastor Barger, of Peace Missionary Ministries, has been a prominent leader in the New Britain community for years. He has served as President of the New Britain Black Ministerial Alliance, and has worked to organize the community to serve people in need and to bring together different parts of the community for the common good.

Rev. Riley, the Pastor of Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church in Ansonia, has deep roots in the New Britain community. He has been a resident of the city, and an Associate Minister and member of Spottswood A.M.E. Zion Church, as well as serving as President of the New Britain Independent Newspaper, Inc., which publishes the New Britain Progressive newspaper.

The Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863, freed millions of the people who had been held in slavery in states rebelling against the United States during the Civil War.

According to the National Archives,

After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

Slavery was later abolished nationwide on December 6, 1865 by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Peace Missionary Ministries is located at 90 Main Street.