NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh announces its sixth Annual Juneteenth celebration will be held on Friday, June 19 in Downing Park from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Join the city for an unforgettable celebration featuring crafts, activities, and much more. Enjoy delicious food and great vibes, along with performances from talented local artists across various genres.
Juneteenth gets its name from combining “June” and “Nineteenth.” According to the White House: “After the Union Army captured New Orleans in 1862, slave owners in Confederate states migrated to Texas with more than 150,000 enslaved Black persons. For 3 years, even after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Black Americans in Texas remained in brutal bondage, immorally and illegally deprived of their freedom and basic dignity.
On June 19, 1865 — over 2 years after President Lincoln declared all enslaved persons free — Major General Gordon Granger and Union Army troops marched to Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved Black Americans in Texas. Those who were freed from bondage celebrated their long-overdue emancipation on June 19.
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