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9 Places to Celebrate Juneteenth This Year
On June 19, 1865, a Union general informed enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that they were free — two and half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. While Juneteenth was already a holiday in Texas and had been celebrated in other places for years, it became a federal holiday in 2021, bolstered by the work of activists like Opal Lee, then 94. Today, it is embraced as a nationwide celebration of Black history and communal reflection across the African diaspora.
Here's a list of places where visitors can commemorate the holiday and learn more about Black history across the United States.
Houston and Galveston, Texas
The Juneteenth celebration at the Houston Museum of African American Culture is free on June 19, with exhibitions, panels, face painting, immersive theater and more. The Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy, an organization founded by formerly enslaved African Americans, is hosting a Juneteenth festival at their visitor center with events that include a fireside chat with the author and scholar Marc Lamont Hill. The nonprofit also hosts various tours of the historic Freedmen's Town area, with several sites designated by UNESCO as part of the Routes of Enslaved Peoples project.
In Galveston, about an hour southeast by car, the Galveston Historical Foundation's Juneteenth exhibit 'And Still We Rise…' will be open daily from June 16 to 22 ($11.70 for adults). If the weather allows, visit the section of the beach that Black residents frequented, between 28th and 29th Streets on the West End. You can also learn more about the history of the Black lifeguards who watched over Black residents who were not allowed on the East End. For more outdoor exploration, visit the city's landmarks on Galveston's self-guided Freedom Walk map.
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