Celebrate Maroon Arts and Culture’s 3rd Anniversary with a full weekend a programming including

The 2nd Annual Juneteenth Jubilee

We need your support!

Click Here to make a tax-deductible donation to the Juneteenth Jubilee!

 

  • Click Here to register for a free ticket to the Juneteenth Jubilee!

  • Celebration continues on Sunday at the Victory Theatre in Burbank. More information coming soon!

  • Join us on Friday June 17th for a special VIP reception for sponsors and supporters. To learn more about sponsorship packages, Click Here.

  • We still have room for vendors in our Black Owned Business Marketplace! We do not charge a vendor fee on Juneteenth. Click Here to register.

  • Click Here to volunteer at the Juneteenth Jubilee!

 

FAQs

For the first time in history, Juneteenth is in the national conversation. Here’s what you need to know.

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is a commemorative celebration of June 19, 1865, the day Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, TX and announced that all enslaved persons were now free.

Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, Texans intentionally continued to enslave Black people, even after this declaration.

Where did Juneteenth start?

Because Texas was the last state in the union to free enslaved labor, the holiday started there. However, no one is free until everyone is free, so the holiday celebrated across the country.

Why celebrate late freedom?

It is heartbreaking to think that Black Americans were unlawfully forced to remain in bondage. There are some who say that this deception is not worthy of celebration. But when we think about our ancestors and how they must have celebrated, it is an honor to remember and celebrate them.

What happened on June 20th?

The declaration recommended that the newly freed stay right where they were and continue to work for undefined wages paid by their former masters. This was an unlikely proposition. The former masters did not intend to pay and hundreds left before the General was finished reading his notice.

Those who left had no where to go, no resources and no help. Many turned to sharecropping, a glorified form of slavery that often paid no wages, only a place to live and a ration of food.

How is Juneteenth celebrated?

For over a century, Juneteenth has been celebrated with a community BBQ that, historically, may include a freshly slaughtered goat. Watermelon and red soda are also in abundance.

Is Juneteenth an official holiday?

Juneteenth was finally declared a Federal Holiday in 2021!

Though celebrated for over a century, for years Juneteenth was only recognized as a State holiday in Texas. In 2020, several corporations declared it an official paid holiday.

What about the 4th of July?

The Fourth of July is a beloved holiday for many Black Americans, especially our brothers and sisters in the armed forces. We do wonder if the spirit of Independence Day can fully be realized if millions of humans were enslaved on July 7, 1776.

“What, to the American Slave, is your Fourth of July?”- Frederick Douglass