Next Thursday is the nation’s newest federal holiday — but it's the oldest celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.
The Juneteenth celebration’s roots extend back to June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, gained their freedom when Union officers arrived to enforce an emancipation order received two years earlier.
This year, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock is celebrating its 16th year marking the 160-year-old observance. Museum Director Key Fletcher says their objective has remained the same.
"Even though Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865, it's in its infancy stages in terms of us celebrating as a country," Fletcher said. "But some people are a little bit hesitant because they are like, 'Oh I don't quite know what Juneteenth is, and I don't know what the celebration is.' That's why we are here, and that's why we want to provide the resource.”
Fletcher says, now that the museum’s celebration has been well established in central Arkansas, she hopes to broaden the scope to reach more people.
"It's not necessarily, for me, about the amount of people that come to the festival here, it's about how we can continue to expand across the state of Arkansas. How do we continue to make sure that as many communities as possible have access and resources to Juneteenth”
Fletcher says Juneteenth is not just about having a good time, but also about honoring the history of the African diaspora.
"The music is amazing, the food is so divine, but through all those, the thread is remembering. Listening to our grandparents and our parents is a way of continuing that oral history tradition that is also important in African American culture.”
In a time where we are seeing a distancing from the ideas of equity and inclusion that were central to the Civil Rights movement, Fletcher says she feels lucky to have continued support from all sides.
"We've gotten good support from the community, we've gotten good support from the state, so I do kind of see things that are happening around the country, but it's been onward and upward here. I will say what's interesting this year, I do feel like from the community, I see more support. I see people who haven't supported Juneteenth, or people that it's kind of been a minute that they supported, they have been stepping up.”
Mosaic Templars’ ‘Juneteenth in Da Rock’ event is Saturday, June 21, at the museum located on historic West Ninth Street in downtown Little Rock.
More information at JuneteenthLittleRock.com
