The Riley Center/Museum and the USCT are hosting 2016 Season of Emancipation events May 20-21, including the sixth annual Emancipation/Abolitionist Ball and the fourth annual A Walk Through Living History Festival Parade & Day in the Park.

The time of year is upon us again and preparations are being made for the 2016 Season of Emancipation events slated for this week, May 20-21. The John G. Riley Center/Museum and the 2nd Infantry Regiment United States Colored Troops (USCT) Living History Association will host the sixth annual Emancipation/Abolitionist Ball on the evening of Saturday, May 21, at 7 p.m., in the Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center, 555 West Pensacola Street, and their fourth annual A Walk Through Living History Festival Parade and Day in the Park earlier that same day beginning at 9 a.m. at Speed Spencer Stephens Park, 1907 Saxon Street.

Also, Season of Emancipation featured events include the Wreath-Laying Ceremony and Salute to Fallen USCT Soldiers on Friday morning, May 20, at 10:30 a.m. at the Old City Cemetery on Martin Luther King Street, and the Historical Reenactment and the 151st Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation that same morning at 11:30 a.m. downtown at the Knott House Museum, 301 East Park Avenue.

For more information about these events, contact Sergeant Major Jarvis V. Rosier Sr., president and founder of the 2nd Infantry Regiment USCT Living History Association, at (850) 509-0295 or the Riley Museum/Center at (850) 681-7881. Also, informational details about these events can be found online at www.RileyMuseum.org.