We are especially excited to announce our sixth annual outdoor Juneteenth celebration. The Sounds of Freedom, will once again be held at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum. This event, featuring the professional opera singer, Tshombe Selby, a beloved Roanoke Island native, continues to be a summertime favorite on the Outer Banks. Please plan to join us this year as Tshombe treats us to songs celebrating the spirit of freedom along with his special guests, K-Soul from Hampton, VA which will culminate into a true Soul Fest! Also performing will be The Mack Jazz Band, a talented group of Dare County High Schoolers who will dazzle us with modern and classic Jazz tunes that will have you on your feet and singing along! 

Back by popular demand,  Mr. Edward Gantt, a U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) Re-enactor and retired U.S. Navy officer, will again, be speaking at the event. Mr. Gantt’s reenactment is to pay tribute to the numerous men from this area, including Richard Etheridge, who joined the Union’s fight for freedom and served in the USCT during the Civil War. 

The Sounds of Freedom free Juneteenth outdoor concert will start at 5:30 pm on Friday, June 19th, and is expected to last a couple of hours. Limited seating will be offered beginning at 5:15 pm. Due to the expected large crowd, people are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair or a blanket to sit on.

Juneteenth, a holiday recognized by most states including North Carolina, is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of enslavement in the United States. On this day, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the end of enslavement was proclaimed in Galveston, Texas. The day is also sometime called Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day. 

Given the story of Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers, the Cookhouse Museum is the ideal location to celebrate Juneteenth. Etheridge, the first Black American in the nation to command a U.S. Life-Saving Service station, grew up enslaved on Roanoke Island. The museum honors his life, the crew he commanded, and their legacy. Remembering Juneteenth on Roanoke Island is especially important considering its ties to the story of the enslaved and the fight for freedom. Roanoke Island was the setting for an historic experiment during the Civil War. Following the island’s occupation by Union forces in 1862, it became a safe haven for those once enslaved throughout the region and prompted the establishment of a Freedmen’s Colony at the north end of the island. As reflected on the plaque which hangs on the outside wall of the museum, many of the surfmen who served at Pea island are descendants of those who lived on the Freedmen’s Colony at Roanoke Island. The many common local last names shown on the plaque are also a compelling reminder of the area’s ties to the story of the enslaved and the free.

This year, PIPSI will be offering for sale special Limited Edition Giclées of our Founder and President Emeritus, Darrell Collins, painted by local Artist James Melvin, as a fundraiser to help staff the Cookhouse Museum and to help fund a scholarship in Darrell's name for Aviation Science studies at Elizabeth City State University, offered by The Outer Banks Community Foundation. Juneteenth and PIPSI logo tees will also be for sale during the event.

The Cookhouse Museum is located at 622 Sir Walter Raleigh Street in Manteo, NC, in the opposite direction from the downtown Manteo waterfront. Those planning to drive to the event are encouraged to park at Haven Creek Baptist Church, which is located at 611 Sir Walter Raleigh Street just down the block.

We are especially grateful to The Don and Catherine Bryan Cultural Series, our lead sponsor, and to TowneBank, Surfin’ Spoon, Outer Banks Dreams Realty, and to all who have continued to support this event over the years.