By T. Scott Boatright
Grambling State University was closed Thursday in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday, but that didn’t stop some of the institution’s employees and students from showing up on campus before 7:30 a.m.
More than 50 students and employees celebrated the holiday by participating in a 5K Run/1-mile walk throughout campus that began and ended in front of T.H. Harris Auditorium.
Juneteenth commemorates the effective end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth (short for “June 19th”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed.
GSU President Dr. Martin Lemelle, Jr. joined in on the run, which was won by Katrell Askins, a GSU honor student from Hillside, Illinois.
Askins completed his 5K run with a time of 22:03, nearly two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
