Celebrate Juneteenth with the Tucson Juneteenth Festival

Come out and celebrate JuneteenthJoshua J. Cotten/Unsplash

Juneteenth is fast approaching, and if you’re looking for a way to celebrate and pay tribute here in Tucson you do have an option thanks to the Tucson Juneteenth Festival. 

Juneteenth, or June Nineteenth, is known by a number of other names, including Emancipation Day as well as Liberation Day. The day itself is designed to celebrate and pay tribute to those individuals who were enslaved here in the United States. The date is more uniquely tied to Texas, as June 19, 1865, is the date that Union Army General Gordon Granger gave General Order Number 3, which freed slaves in Texas. 

Many are more familiar with President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in all Confederate States, including Texas, but those laws were not enforced until Union soldiers were able to press into the given Confederate states. Because Texas was one of the furthest slave-holding states, it was the last state to be fully placed under the Emancipation Proclamation law. So, on June 19, 1865, which General Order Number 3 was given, it officially put an end to slavery in all of the U.S (although the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was not passed until December of that year). 

To some, the idea of Juneteenth is a new concept. Possibly because it was not taught in the public education system at the time. This is primarily because it was not a sudden national holiday. Instead, the celebration of Juneteenth started in a cluster of churches in Texas (due to it being the anniversary of the end of slavery in Texas). The celebration took root and spread, mostly in Black communities in the South, during the early 1920s and 1930s. As African American workers moved north to cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and Milwaukee, to take advantage of higher-paying factory jobs, the idea of Juneteenth continued to spread, and then during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, it blossomed further. 

Now, 47 of the 50 states observe Juneteenth (Hawaii and the Dakotas are the other three states that don’t officially recognize it). Here in Tucson, you can take part in the celebration of the end of slavery by taking part in the Tucson Juneteenth Festival. 

There are a number of events attached to the festival, so whether you want to go out or stay in, there will be activities and events for you. From 11 AM until 1 PM on June 19th, the Pima Community College’s YouTube channel will be hosting a number of live events, ranging from poetry readings to discussing the history of Juneteenth in further detail, dances, messages from pastors, as well as other live events. 

If you’ve been looking for a reason to get out of the house you’ll want to stop by the Dunbar Pavilion (325 West 2nd Street). The in-person activities start at 4 PM and run until 8 PM. Here you can find a number of local food trucks, plus local vendors selling their goods. It should be a beautiful day to get outside, support local businesses, and learn about something that may not have been discussed or taught extensively when you were in school. 

To end the day, there will be a second series of live events back on the Pima Community College’s YouTube page starting at 9 PM and lasting for an hour until 10 PM. This will include some encore performances from the morning, as well as local black artists demonstrating their skills, which may include dancing, singing, and other performance pieces. 

To stay up to date on all of the events and activities taking place for the Tucson Juneteenth Festival celebration, make sure to follow the group’s Facebook page. 

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