The “29th of May”, a cultural celebration marking the end of slavery in Upson County, Georgia. It is the oldest documented Emancipation Proclamation celebration in the United States of America, however, little is known about the event outside of middle Georgia. The current study investigates how different birth cohorts understand and engage with this historic event and how the county’s collective memory of the day has changed over time. I conduct focus groups and semi-structured narrative interviews with Black residents of Upson County to gather insights across four generations including (1) Baby Boomers; (2) Generation X; (3) Millennials; and (4) Generation Z. Additionally, the qualitative data is supplemented by an analysis of public documents collected from the Thomaston-Upson Historical Archives. Thematic analysis is performed to explore participants’ perspectives and develop a broader understanding of collective memory around the historic event.
