Northwest Arkansas to Celebrate Juneteenth on Saturday

The 16th annual Northwest Arkansas Juneteenth Celebration will be held from 3-7 p.m., Saturday, June 15, at Murphy Park, 600 Ash St. in Springdale. It is free and all members of the Northwest Arkansas community are invited.

This family event will include a cookout, live musical entertainment, children’s games for, art displays, a health fair, ice cream, and large inflatables. Guests are encouraged to participate in a silent auction that will benefit student scholarships at the University of Arkansas. Juneteenth T-shirts will be available for $10 each, along with items from local vendors.

This year’s celebration is sponsored by the University of Arkansas’ Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, Black Alumni Association, division of student affairs and Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. It is also sponsored by Springdale Parks and Recreation, St. James Baptist Church, Walmart, NWA Media, Proctor & Gamble, Cox Communications, Tyson Foods, General Mills, StageKing, Penguin Ed’s, PepsiCo, Hiland Dairy and Arvest Bank.  

For information on the Northwest Arkansas Juneteenth Celebration, please visit www.nwajuneteenth.org or contact J’onnelle Colbert-Diaz at 479-575-3333 or jcdiaz@uark.edu or Jeff Fleming at 479-283-7764 or jeff.fleming08@gmail.com.

History

Juneteenth, or the “19th of June,” is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. In 2006, the Arkansas Legislature recognized Juneteenth as a state memorial day commemorated by the issuance of a proclamation from Gov. Mike Huckabee. Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, when Union General Gordon Granger announced freedom for all slaves in the Southwest. This was the last major vestige of slavery in the United States following the end of the Civil War. This occurred more than two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Upon the reading of General Order No. 3 by General Granger, the former slaves celebrated jubilantly, establishing America's second Independence Day Celebration and the oldest African-American holiday observance.

Juneteenth is now recognized as a state holiday or state holiday observance in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Delaware, Idaho, Alaska, Iowa, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky and Michigan. In 2003, the District of Columbia passed legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a district holiday observance. Many more states, including Oregon, South Dakota, Mississippi, Michigan, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Montana, Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia and Colorado have recognized Juneteenth through state legislative resolutions, gubernatorial proclamations and current state holiday observance legislation.