This week, the Afrikan American community recognizes the holiday of Juneteenth, regarded as the day enslaved Afrikans finally learned of their freedom across the United States as the news reached enslaved populations in Texas.
The online encyclopedia Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth) describes the holiday in this way:
… referring to June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.[8][9] In the Civil War period, slavery came to an end in various areas of the United States at different times. Many enslaved Southerners escaped, demanded wages, stopped work, or took up arms against the Confederacy of slave states. In January 1865, Congress finally proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution for national abolition of slavery. By June 1865, almost all enslaved were freed by the victorious Union Army, or abolition laws in some of the remaining U.S. states. When the national abolition amendment was ratified in December, the remaining enslaved in Delaware and in Kentucky were freed.
Early celebrations date back to 1866, at first involving church-centered community gatherings in Texas. They spread across the South among newly freed African-Americans and their descendants and became more commercialized in the 1920s and 1930s, often centering on a food festival. Participants in the Great Migration brought these celebrations to the rest of the country. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, these celebrations were eclipsed by the nonviolent determination to achieve civil rights, but grew in popularity again in the 1970s with a focus on African-American freedom and African-American arts. Beginning with Texas by proclamation in 1938, and by legislation in 1979, every U.S. state and the District of Columbia has formally recognized the holiday in some way.
Juneteenth is also celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuila, Mexico.
The day was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, when the 117th U.S. Congress enacted and President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.
There will be numerous celebrations and commemorations in the immediate Maryland-DC-Virginia area this week. We will provide information on a few of them below, and links to other sources of information. If you know of a Juneteenth event taking place this week that we may not have heard about, feel free to let us know at cliff@kuumbareport.com and we will see about announcing it on this Web site.
Rita Church Community Center Kwanzaa Celebration, June 18
The Oliver Senior Center, Harford Senior Center and Waxter Senior Center are holding a Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday, June 18 from 12 noon – 2 PM. There will be games, food, live entertainment, giveaways and vendors. The event will be held at the Rita Church Community Center, 2102 St. Lo Drive, Baltimore, MD 21213. To register, go to https://tinyurl.run/iusl19 or call (410) 396-3861.
State of the People National Convening, June 19 – 21
The State of the People National Convening will take place from June 19 – 21 at The Empowerment Temple, 4217 Primrose Avenue, Baltimore, MD. A number of panelists and guest speakers will discuss building a Black Agenda, Black Paper Town Halls and Delegate Training. To register, go to https://stateoftheppl.com. For more information, call (410) 209-9687 or visit https://stateoftheppl.com/baltimore.
More Juneteenth Events in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia
WTOP News in Washington, DC has put together a schedule of Juneteenth events in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.
https://wtop.com/local/2025/06/juneteenth-2025-a-roundup-of-celebrations-in-dc-maryland-and-virginia/
Juneteenth 2025: A roundup of celebrations in DC, Maryland and Virginia
WTOP Staff
June 15, 2025, 4:15 PM
The U.S. will observe Juneteenth on Thursday.
Officially recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, Juneteenth dates back to 1865, when a Union general informed enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War was over and that they were free.
This was two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
WTOP has curated an extensive list of D.C.-area events organized in celebration of Juneteenth 2025. Go to the link https://wtop.com/local/2025/06/juneteenth-2025-a-roundup-of-celebrations-in-dc-maryland-and-virginia/ to find out the details.