Gallery – Smithfield reprises Juneteenth festivities
Published 5:57 pm Monday, June 23, 2025
- Smithfield reprised its Juneteenth festivities on June 19. Here, Raven Pierce of Surry County paints Ari Hobson’s face outside The Schoolhouse Museum. (Photos by Stephen Faleski | The Smithfield Times)
Smithfield hosted its second annual Juneteenth celebration on June 19, a date that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. Virginia is in its sixth year of recognizing the date as a state holiday. The Main Street Square stage outside The Smithfield Times office hosted performances throughout the day.
The festivities kicked off with storyteller Valerie Davis portraying Martha Ann Fields, an enslaved African woman who escaped with her children from Hanover County and made the 89-mile journey to Fort Monroe during the Civil War.
Harry Johnson portrayed Charles Henry Gray, Smithfield Foods’ then-CEO Joseph Luter III’s legendary assistant and namesake of the Charles Henry Gray Party Ham, a Smithfield ham with a secret brown sugar seasoning developed by Gray. Several descendants of Gray came to watch his performance.
Additional performances included the Blue Steel Drumline, a percussion band from Lakeland High School in Suffolk, the Smithfield High School drama club’s reprisal of songs from the school’s spring production of “The Wiz,” and music by Smithfield High alumni Kristiana Jones and Brandon Askew.
Alex Best shared his spoken word poetry and the Turquoise School of Dance from Virginia Beach also performed.
A few blocks further down Main Street, the Isle of Wight County Historical Society hosted “Four Paths to Freedom,” a lecture by author and historian John Quarstein, at Main Street Baptist Church. The Schoolhouse Museum also hosted craft vendors on its grounds.
The festivities wrapped up with a 2 p.m. concert by Forte, a jazz band featuring Smithfield’s own James Ford.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 10:17 a.m. on June 24 to correct the spelling of daughter Tammy Gray’s name, which had incorrectly been spelled “Tammie,” in a photo of a group of descendants of Charles Henry Gray. Richard Wrenn Jr., who was also pictured with the group, is not himself a Gray descendant.
-
- Storyteller Valerie Davis portrays Martha Ann Fields, an enslaved African American woman who escaped with her children from a plantation in Hanover County to Fort Monroe, 89 miles away, during the Civil War.
-
- The Blue Steel Drum Line from Lakeland High School in Suffolk performs.
-
- Cierra Payne, a member of the Smithfield High School drama club, reprises her role in the school’s spring production of “The Wiz.”
-
- Smithfield High School 2022 graduate Kristiana Jones, now a junior and vocal performance major at Old Dominion University, sings “Four Women” by Nina Simone, accompanied by fellow SHS 2022 graduate Brandon Askew on the keyboard.
-
- Kimorah Bailey reprises a song from “The Wiz.” In back from left are Daysia Kelly-Bush, Jiya Smith, Ja’mirreah Dyson, Tenley Castner, and Ellie Tucker, all drama club members at Smithfield High School.
-
- Harry Johnson portrays Charles Henry Gray, Smithfield Foods’ then-CEO Joseph Luter III’s legendary assistant and namesake of the Charles Henry Gray Ham, at the 1750 Isle of Wight Courthouse.
-
- Forte’s Darryl Rawlings plays the drums.
-
- From left, Keegan Shannon, Ja’mirreah Dyson, Tenley Castner, Ellie Tucker, Charlie Tucker, Jiya Smith, and Daysia Kelly-Bush reprise a group number from Smithfield High School’s spring production of “The Wiz.”
-
- Alex Best reads his spoken word poetry.
-
- Turquoise School of Dance performs.
-
- Sisters Kori and Kristiana Smith and their mother, Jessica, make beaded jewelry at The Schoolhouse Museum.
-
- Historian and author John Quarstein shares details at Main Street Baptist Church about the life of Anthony Gardiner, who was born in Southampton County in 1820 and later immigrated to Liberia. Gardiner was one of four men of African descent Quarstein highlighted in his lecture titled “Four Paths to Freedom.”
-
- Harry Johnson’s portrayal of Charles Henry Gray drew attendance from several of Gray’s descendants. From left, front row, are Gray’s grandson, Charles Henry Gray III and wife Moni, Yolanda White, Johnson, Bonita Rawlings and her husband, Michael, another of Gray’s grandchildren. In back, from left, are Tammy Gray, daughter of Charles Henry Gray, Charlene Gambrell, Richard Wrenn Jr. and Brock Gambrell. Wrenn is not a Charles Henry Gray descendant.
-
- The Schoolhouse Museum hosted multiple craft vendors and served as a shuttle stop for transport to other Juneteenth festivities in downtown Smithfield.
-
- Brian Pinner, Forte band leader, plays the saxophone.
-
- Forte’s Daniel Quackenbush plays the bass guitar. In back is Ford’s son, Jarad, a guest saxophonist.
-
- James Ford plays the keyboard during a performance by Forte, a jazz band.
