Know this first: Juneteenth is a celebration! This is how the day was born on June 19, 1865—when Union Army General Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3 informed Texans that all slaves were free—and how it continued both in Texas and places that Black Texans migrated to, especially Los Angeles.
Indeed, while New York was largely ignorant of Juneteenth until just a few years ago, Texans and Angelenos have been delighting in all sorts of picnics, parties and other entertainments for over a century.
Old advertisements and stories in the California Eagle, a Black weekly newspaper from Los Angeles, are telling. Read one 1939 notice: “Juneteenth will be celebrated on Central Avenue all day, with barbecue and dancing in the new and improved gardens at the rear of the Elks’ Temple, 4016 S. Central Avenue... The festivities will begin at nine o’clock in the morning and continue out of doors... until six p.m.”
In June 1952, the Eagle published a column by Civil Rights activist, writer and future NAACP President Roy Wilkins advocating for a Juneteenth holiday.
“Our whole race needs a national day of celebration. Every people here in America has some such day except us,” Wilkins explained. “The Irish take over on St. Patrick’s Day. The Poles, Rumanians, Greeks, Norwegians, Swedes and Italians all have their days. The Chinese make a celebration of their New Year. The Spanish have their fiestas. Only the Negro has no national to commemorate. And of all the people’s he needs one the most. It could a become a powerful instrument for understanding and good will.”
It took seven decades to get there.
Meanwhile, Angelenos weren’t waiting. An exuberant 1963 ad for the Ben-Hur Supper Club, 3101 South Western Ave, exclaims, Black cowboy style, “YIPPEE! IT’S JUNETEENTH TIME!” as it presents John “Texas” Tucker’s Original Juneteenth Party. “Live entertainment and plenty of FREE SOUL FOOD!”
In the spirit of YIPPEE! then, a selective Manhattanite’s guide to Juneteenth 2025:
SATURDAY JUNE 14
Downtown, the must-attend event for families takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. at Rockefeller Park at Battery Park City. Sponsored by the Battery Park City Authority, there will be freedom stories, food, artmaking and the snazzily dressed, always gracious New York City Federation of Black Cowboys. Free pony rides for kids ages 3 and up too: Yippee!
Uptown, it’s all about West 116th Street, where the 32nd Annual Harlem Juneteenth Parade and Street Festival will run from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm between Malcolm X Blvd. and 5th Ave.
SUNDAY JUNE 16
While not touted as a Juneteenth event per se, this date is an opportune time to visit RALPH ELLISON PARK, at Riverside Drive and West 150th Street, where Summer on the Hudson sponsors free weekly community jazz concerts from 2-5 p.m. In 1965, when Ellison, author of the landmark 1952 novel Invisible Man, published an excerpt to his subsequent novel-in-progress, it was titled “Juneteenth.”
THURSDAY JUNE 19
At Lincoln Center enjoy a free, day-long range of performances under the title “Oh Sankofa! A Juneteenth Celebration” with Black Theatre United and curated by musician and artist Carl Hancock Rux.
At 1 PM in Central Park, there’s the sixth annual Juneteenth 4 Mile Run Walk & Roll, an event which is so much fun they upped the distance from previous years’ 5K. Registration and packet pick up begins at the Naumburg Bandshell at 8 a.m. with the start scheduled for 10 a.m. Entry fees are $25 plus or pay what can, starting with free, if necessary. Health is wealth!
Downtown, there are two places to be. One is Battery Park for the Juneteenth Freedom Fest: A Historic Tribute. Running from 10 AM to 5 PM, this free festival “honors emancipation with historical reenactments, storytelling, and live music, including African drumming and gospel choirs.” Food and other vendors will also be present.
The second destination is the African Burial Ground National Monument which will offer a number of programs throughout the day—all of them free—starting at 10 a.m. with African traditional ceremony music. At noon, there’s a book signing with “Juneteenth Freedom” author Cheryl Wills; and from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., DJ Gary Todd will present an outdoor Afro Music program to connect visitors with the “Ancestral Spirit.”