CLEARWATER, Fla. — Americans across the country are celebrating Juneteenth on Wednesday. It’s the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they were free — nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America.

In 2021, Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday, but for some, learning about the history of the holiday needs to be emphasized more.

That’s why the women from the sewing club, Quilting Sisters of Color Too, made quilts to be on display for Juneteenth at the Pinellas County African American History Museum.

Denise Campbell said she has a piece she’s been working on for years. She started on the quilt around the same time she learned about the significance of quilting for African Americans.

“What the slaves would do is they would put a quilt up and put it on the line, and the people would know when to gather their food, gather everything and each stop on the underground railroad, they would have a quilt saying, ‘It’s safe, you can do this,’ or ‘You can do that,’” Campbell said.

For her, learning that motivated her to keep moving her needle.

“What motivated me is knowing what they had to do to gain their freedom,” Campbell said. “Because I just thought they were, you know, I thought they were really smart to do this without the slave owner knowing what they’re doing. To know that our ancestors were smart enough to do that, without the slave owners knowing about it, and they were able to escape to freedom, and I thought that was pretty brilliant of them myself.”

She said she first learned about Juneteenth when she moved to Texas.

“I never knew anything about Juneteenth until I moved to Texas 20 years ago. But it shows people what kind of people they were dealing with. And I felt bad they stayed in slavery what, two more years, than everybody else,” she said.

When she moved back to Florida, the sewing club, called Quilting Sisters of Color too, was formed. Annie Miller has tailored it for anyone who wants to learn. She said the oldest member at 85, and the youngest is 35 years old.

Every week, the women meet to create quilts just like their ancestors did. And they do it in a room that’s bursting at the seams with love, laughter and history.