Juneteenth Celebration

Free and open to the public, this year's Juneteenth Celebration will begin at 11:15 a.m. with a Freedom Walk that begins and ends at The Dubois Center, 518 N. Franklin St. Participants are encouraged to begin assembling for the march at 11 a.m.

The day's activities will highlight the freeing of the slaves in Texas two years after the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Immediately following the Freedom Walk there will be food, activities, music, and more!

What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. A combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” Juneteenth commemorates Union Major General Gordon Granger’s reading of the order freeing enslaved people of Texas in Galveston on June 19, 1865. The reading of General Order Number 3 came two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862. Despite the Confederate Army’s surrender in May of 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, the remote Trans-Mississippi continued fighting until June 2 within Texas.

Today, Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom and achievement, while encouraging continuous self-development and respect for all cultures.