Upson Emancipation

Celebrating History. Celebrating Traditions. Celebrating Freedom.

Thomaston is famous for the Emancipation Celebration held on or around May 29 each year! This event is organized by The Emancipation Committee of Upson; this popular and worthy local event has an unbroken 157-year history since the end of slavery in Upson County in 1865.

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William Guilford is credited with organizing the first celebration. Most of what we know about the first event comes from William Guilford himself, in a memorial furnished to the Thomaston Times in 1891 by the Colored Celebration Association (as the committee was then called). Guilford wrote that there were five speakers on May 29, 1866: Thomas S. Sharman, Peter W. Alexander, Jennings Thompson, James W. Greene, and (future Georgia governor) James M. Smith. 

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The earliest newspaper account, 1876, tells us that the speaking was held at Benjamin White's Grove. In 1927, The Emancipation Celebration was moved and celebrated to a location that is known as Lincoln Park where it has remained until today.

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The traditions of the official program of singing and speeches, the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, the parade through Thomaston and the happy party atmosphere have remained in tack.