Juneteenth Celebrated by Historic Mount Laurel Church, NAACP
By Joe Green, BCT Staff Writer June 18, 2016 (Source: Burlington County Times)
MOUNT LAUREL--At the podium inside a quaint little antebellum Burlington County church, a preacher expounded on lessons from the Old Testament of faith in the creator.
Churchgoers resounded their approval with frequent amens, alrights and hallelujahs.
Suddenly, a woman, sobbing and screaming, bolted through a back door, past the pews and toward the preacher. Charity Still had been captured, she wailed. Slave catchers from below the Mason-Dixon line had come seeking their "property."
They'd found Still, a town resident, and her children and taken her back to the plantations. The preacher and congregants gathered around to pray for the family and offer what comfort they could.
The drama on Saturday was one of several re-enactments from the days when the Underground Railroad had a stop in Mount Laurel, and local blacks were working to help escaped slaves find freedom in the North...