Watch Night in Diamond Village

Emancipation Day opens in Diamond midnight July 31 with one minute of silence at the square. Then commemoration begins with a thanksgiving prayer.
This year, the Diamonites Community Organisation is hosting the annual “Freedom Watch” rally. Community groups will present messages, songs, and other items in celebration of the anniversary of freedom from slavery on August 1, 1838. {{more}}
The theme is: ‘Rising from Mental Slavery.’
The American historian Elliot Skinner has written, “when West Indian Emancipation finally came, Afro Americans celebrated that event on August 1 each year instead of July 4, (American Independence Day).”
On one instance, according to Professor Skinner, blacks in Cincinnati, Ohio organized a watch night service July 31, 1858 “remaining mute and motionless for the last fifteen minutes before midnight. At 12 o’clock the silence was broken with a loud cheer, followed by songs and prayers.”
Diamonites Community Organisation invites the whole Vincentian community to “Come watch with us” as we pledge ourselves to keep rising from mental slavery.