JUBILEE RECALLS END OF SLAVERY; YOUNG LEARN FREEDOM'S LESSON.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed long before 12-year-old Kristian Huling's lifetime. But as Sunday's 19th annual Jubilee proved, its significance is not lost on the new generation.

Standing before about 150 San Fernando Valley residents who packed the Pacoima Seventh-day Adventist Church, Kristian evoked the memories of the freedom fighters who fought to abolish slavery.

``As freedom fighters, our forefathers worked very hard to get where we are today,'' said Kristian before her speech. ``People today abuse freedom by going out and shooting, killing and doing drugs.''

Jubilee Day was created in 1978 by former NAACP executive director Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks to celebrate civil rights advances and to commemorate the day President Lincoln freed all slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect Jan. 1, 1863.

The Emancipation Proclamation, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States and was the forerunner to the 13th Amendment.

Lincoln hoped the proclamation would hasten the end of the Civil War. Freed slaves strengthened the Union forces in the North, while slave labor in farms and factories in the South aided the Confederates.

Kristian stressed the importance of remembering history and said it was last year's Jubilee that prompted her to participate in this year's event.

``Today's children are tomorrow's future, and we can't bring about a good future unless we get to the bare roots,'' said Kristian, a seventh-grader at Hillcrest Christian School in Granada Hills.

Instilling a sense of history in today's youths was part of the goal in this year's Jubilee, the theme of which was ``Together We Shall Rise Till Victory Is Won,'' said the Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, president of the San Fernando Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the group that sponsored Sunday's festivities.

``We here in the San Fernando Valley pride ourselves in working with our young people, in establishing traditions that continue the legacy of those who have been here,'' Broadous said. ``Unless they have a clear understanding of what the struggle is all about, when they get the torch they don't know what to do with it.''

True to its name, Sunday's Jubilee was a foot-stomping celebration, complete with uplifting gospel hymns and a rousing performance by the 2 Hype Gospel Drill Team.

Event organizers also honored a local teen-ager who was slain this year and several longtime NAACP members.

The first Jubilee celebration in the San Fernando Valley, in 1978, was presided over by Jose De Sosa, past president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the NAACP.

The concept for Jubilee Day also is historically rooted in religion. African-Americans see parallels between the day and Passover, with the belief that it was through their suffering and the providence of God that their freedom was attained.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1) The Pacoima Mass Choir performs a selection of gospel songs as part of Sunday's 19th annual Jubilee celebration.

(2) The 2 Hype Gospel Drill Team gets into action at the Jubilee, held to celebrate civil rights advances.

(3) Sisters Lecreatia, 8, left, Marshallyn, 5, and Diane Melson, 6, enjoy the Jubilee.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News