Before the Civil War, hundreds of Africans were sold as slaves at the Forks of the Road in Natchez. This weekend, the Natchez community will honor them with its sixth annual Forks of the Road Celebration.

Ser Seshshab Heter C.M. Boxley said the Frederick Douglass Civic Improvement League will host the ceremony.

In past years, the celebration took place during Juneteenth, a June celebration in honor of the day when slaves in Texas first learned of the&160;Emancipation Proclamation.

But Boxley said the Natchez group moved the Forks of the Road event to September so Natchez’s own emancipation stories can receive more attention.

In the past, &uot;we overlooked Natchez’s contribution,&uot; Boxley said. &uot;It’s not recognized.&uot;

The fall date also honors the large number of slaves, or freedom fighters, who joined the union forces during 1863 — including about 3,000 stationed in the Natchez area.

&uot;We’re really commemorating the freedom summer of 1863,&uot; Boxley said. &uot;There would be no Juneteenth if it were not for the infusion of hundreds of thousand of African-Americans into the Union Army side.&uot;

At 8 a.m. Saturday, participants will gather at the Forks of the Road site on St. Catherine Street for a ceremony.

Afterwards they will travel to the Natchez bluff, which is in the area of Clifton and Linton streets and Madison Avenue and is the former site of Fort McPherson — a Union fort guarded by many African-Americans from 1863 to 1866, Boxley said.

The First Mississippi Colored Regiment Infantry Reenactment Group will perform at the site, Boxley said.

The group with then go to the Natchez National Cemetery, where many African-American soldiers are buried, Boxley said. They will then visit the Mostly African Market on St. Catherine Street.

To conclude the day’s events, the group will meet at 1 p.m. for a public forum on the Underground Railroad Program with Barbara Tagger of the National Park Service.

The theme of the program is &uot;Revisiting Rivers of Freedom Where the Overground and Undergrounds Railroads Met at Natchez and Mississippi’s Forks-of-the Road.&uot;

The Underground Railroad Program identifies properties relating to and stories about abolitionism, Boxley said.

The Sankofa Dance Society will also perform, Boxley said.

The program will take place in the Nelson Multi-purpose room at the Redd Watkins Building at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus.

For more information on the public forum, check the Web page for Natchez Core Planning Committee http://members.tripod.com/torreyd/