By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Cassopolis Vigilant
At the annual Juneteenth celebration Tuesday at the Calvin Township Hall, Michigan State University Professor Veta Tucker talked about what they know about Ramptown and the oldest African-American Church in the area, Chain Lake Baptist.
Virginia Springsteen was instrumental in helping a team locate the land which probably once was covered with 100 cabins. When the former slaves earned enough money working the land owned by James Bonine, they moved on and bought their own land, Tucker explained.
She mentioned the descendants of Charles Osborne, who helped send slaves up to Canada through the Underground Railroad.
Coming to the event from Elkhart, Ind., was a descendant of Osborne, Dorothy Hosterman.
The luncheon attracted a large crowd and the weather cooperated with the rain replaced with a nice breeze for those eating outside.
About 70 children who are participating in the summer program at Sam Adams in Cassopolis were brought to the celebration to enjoy fried catfish and a presentation by Bill Bradley of Marcellus.
Bradley, a 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Company B Re-enactors member, explained why they were remembered the day the slaves in Texas learned they were freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln.
Kathy Jones, descendant of a Quaker family involved with the Underground Railroad, shared her family stories.
The Minority Coalition presented the event, with the help of three area churches which donated homemade desserts, Penn Friends, Chain Lake and Peoples Church of Cassopolis.