A DAY TO COMMEMORATE, CELEBRATE,
AND EDUCATE
WHAT IS JUNETEENTH?
Juneteenth is a National holiday traditionally celebrated on the third Saturday in the month of June each year. It celebrates the emancipation of the people who had been enslaved in America and is commemorated on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865 announcement in Galveston, Texas by Union Army General Gordon Granger, who proclaimed freedom from slavery.
HONORING JUNETEENTH IN
DUTCHESS COUNTY
Dutchess County has a rich and storied history associated with the African-American community. Juneteenth gives us the opportunity to honor and commemorate some of those stories, such as the talented Black artisans who flourished in the Oak Street neighborhood located within the village of Rhinebeck.
It is also a day to reflect on and honor the many Black Rhinebeck citizens who rest in peace within the
segregated cemeteries throughout Dutchess County. In Dutchess County, burial of Persons of Color took place
in separate, segregated cemeteries into the early 20th century. The last known such burial was Lemuel Jackson
of Red Hook, buried in the Turkey Hill “Colored Cemetery” in the Town of Milan in 1927.
Learn More about the history of Dutchess Counties African American Burial Grounds HERE
Dutchess County Historical Society, the Mid Hudson Anti-Slavery Project, Celebrating the African Spirit and
other local organizations have been researching and sharing our local Black history.
We encourage you to learn more about these important stories.
Here are a few resources to help get you started:
The Walkway Freedom Trail & America’s River of Dreams
HOW IS IT CELEBRATED?
Juneteenth holiday traditions in many Black communities often include food with African-American influences such as Creole cuisine, soul food, and barbecue punctuated with strawberry soda as a traditional drink choice associated with the celebration, symbolizing strength and perseverance of enslaved peoples.
HOW CAN JUNETEENTH EDUCATE A COMMUNITY?
The modern holiday places an emphasis upon the teaching of African-American heritage and culture through lectures and exhibitions, as well as public readings of works by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.
Almost 250 years of historical atrocities inflicted on generations of captured and enslaved people have caused irreparable harm, and the process of healing the damage caused by those atrocities will require the work of everyone in every community, including you.
LOCAL JUNETEENTH EVENTS
South Pearl Street Freedom Festival, Albany
Saturday, June 17, 2023 12:00 PM
South End Grocery
106 Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
Poughkeepsie Community Juneteenth Celebration
Sunday, June 18, 2023 12:00 - 6:00 PM
Mansion Square Park
165 Mansion Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Opera Saratoga America Sings! A Juneteenth Eve Celebration
Sunday, June 18, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Caffe Lena
47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866
JUNETEENTH RESOURCES
-
Kids' Books to Celebrate Juneteenth
New York Public Library
On June 19, 1865—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation—a general in the Union Army finally told the people of Galveston, Texas, that slavery had ended. The holiday of Juneteenth commemorates that date in particular, and, more generally, freedom from slavery after the Civil War. (Learn more about Juneteenth's history and traditions via NYPL's online resources!) LEARN MORE
-
Talking About Race
National Museum of African American History & Culture
Since the opening of the museum, the number one question people ask us is how to talk about race. In 2014, we launched our signature program, “Let’s Talk! Teaching Race in the Classroom.” Every year we’ve learned, reflected, and refined the program content – always growing and striving to do better. LEARN MORE
-
‘The Underground Railroad’: – harrowing, magical, masterful TV
The Guardian
Director Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s prizewinning novel The Underground Railroad (Amazon) is as unbearably bleak, brutal and brilliant as the book. The USP of Whitehead’s book is that it makes real the whisper network of safe houses and sympathetic white people who smuggled enslaved people from the south to the northern, free states and Canada. LEARN MORE
-
About EJI
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. LEARN MORE
-
Museum and Memorial
The Legacy Museum:
From Enslavement to Mass IncarcerationLocated on the site of a former warehouse where Black people were forced to labor in Montgomery, Alabama, this narrative museum uses interactive media, sculpture, videography, and exhibits to immerse visitors in the sights and sounds of the slave trade, racial terrorism, the Jim Crow South, and the world’s largest prison system. LEARN MORE
-
Invisible People, Untold Stories
History Speaks
I have long felt history has more to do with the present and future, than the past. What do we choose to remember and memorialize? What gets passively forgotten through neglect? What gets actively erased, or "reconfigured?" The past allows for there to be a second point relative to the present. LEARN MORE
-
Dutchess African Heritage Studies: Walter M. Patrice Online Library
Dutchess County Historical Society
Many men and women of color have contributed richly to the history of our county, and to the Dutchess County Historical Society as an organization. Among them was Walter Patrice. He gave DCHS its foundational collection on Black History, relating to the AME Zion Church on Smith Street, Poughkeepsie. His 99-year lifelong commitment and quest for learning through understanding our local history, sets the standard here. LEARN MORE
