The Malone Community Center will host its annual Juneteenth celebration from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, at Trago Park, 22nd and U streets. This year’s theme is “Reclaiming Our Past and Reframing Our Future.” The event is free and open to the public.
This family-friendly events features activities for kids, entertainment, dance and rap contests and a health fair.
Juneteenth, short for June Nineteenth, commemorates the last slaves to be freed in America. In Texas, slavery was relatively unaffected because the state experience no large-scale fighting. Many slave owners from outside the state viewed it as a safe haven and moved there with their slaves. On June 19, 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Texas declared all slaves free, effectively marking the end of slavery in the United States.