NEW ORLEANS — Minister John Mosley first learned of Juneteenth in 1990.
Learn MoreJohn Thomson is the founder of Juneteenth America merged with all the Juneteenth Organizations, and elected Reverend Ronld V. Myers, MD, as NJOF President.
Learn MoreServed as NJOF president until he transitioned in 2018. Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. (born February 29, 1956 – September 7, 2018) was an American physician, Baptist minister, musician, and civil rights activist. He was the founder and chairman of several organizations active in the modern movement to promote the holiday Juneteenth. He worked in the field of medicine, providing care to poor rural residents of the American South. He also performed as a jazz musician. Personal life and education Myers was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of two sons, to Marion Mack Myers and Neoma R. Myers. The Myers family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when his parents became employed as teachers in the Milwaukee Public Schools. He attended Rufus King High School in Milwaukee. He was a soloist in the high school jazz ensemble on trumpet and piano. Myers attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he majored in African American Studies and was a member of the Experimental Improvisational Black Music Ensemble, under the mentorship of trombonist and professor Jimmy Cheatham. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1985 and completed his residency in Family Medicine at LSU Medical Center's Washington St. Tammany Parish Charity Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1988. He took part-time courses at Reformed Theological Seminary at Mississippi Valley State University in 1989 and 1990.
Learn MoreThe Juneteenth flag was designed by activist Ben Haith in 1997. Why is the Juneteenth flag curved? The flag’s colors — red, white and blue — were deliberately chosen by Haith to demonstrate that even throughout enslavement, African Americans were always American. Today, many continue use the symbolic Pan African colors: Red, Black, and Green. Some add Gold too.