Springfield, MO— A city-wide Juneteenth Celebration weekend will start on Friday, June 16. at the Springfield Art Museum featuring The Living History Actors and Milly Project Performance. The History Actors starts at 5:00 pm and the Milly Project Performance is at 6:00 pm. These events are free to the public on Saturday, June 17, at the Expo Center. Doors will open to the public at 11:00 am – NAACP Program is scheduled from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.
On Sunday, June 18, Nappy Roots perform at the Rif. Doors will open at 5:00 pm. Tickets are available for $25. Scan the QR Code on the poster located on the back cover.
Why is Juneteenth Celebrated?
Juneteenth commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States.
Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
