D.C. Marks Juneteenth’s 150th Anniversary With Book Festival


On June 19, 150 years ago, one of the last groups of American slaves learned that they were freed of their bondage, a moment in history that continues to be celebrated today.

Juneteenth, as the celebration is called, commemorates the 1865 announcement of freedom by U.S. Army Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. While Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in rebel states two years before in 1863, news of the Emancipation Proclamation did not reach Texas until June 19, 1865.

Now a cultural holiday, Juneteenth is marked with events that recall the struggles and triumphs of African Americans.

Washington, D.C., has been a hub for Juneteenth celebrations in recent years, including a 2000 effort to call upon Congress to recognize Juneteenth as an official state holiday. The campaign proved successful, as Juneteenth is now observed as a state holiday or day of observance in the District and 43 states.

Books and reading are at the center of this year’s celebration, whose slogan is “Literacy is the backbone of freedom.”

Hosted by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the two-day Juneteenth Book Festival will feature a June 19 conference with discussion panels, workshops, as well as an awards reception at Sankofa Video Books and Cafe on Georgia Avenue NW. The main event, a family-friendly outdoor festival, is planned for June 20 at Anacostia’s St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion? at 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, in which every child will leave with a book to recognize the importance of literacy in freedom and civil rights.

“The U.S. Capitol and the White House were built through the uncompensated labor of the ancestors of Americans of African descent during the tyranny of enslavement,” says Ronald V. Myers, Sr., chairman of the National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign and National Juneteenth Observance Foundation. “The leaders of the ‘Modern Juneteenth Movement’ will continue to honor their contributions in building key American institutions during the annual observance of Juneteenth in the nation’s capital.”

This is the first year of the annual festival, which will feature publisher Haki Madhubuti, author Marita Golden, as well as Myers. 

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