Baltimore celebrates Juneteenth with music, family events and Black-owned businesses

At the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, Juneteenth brought families into the building for art, music and hands-on programming centered on the holiday’s meaning.

Terri Lee Freeman, the museum’s president, said Juneteenth is freedom day for African Americans as the institution marked the day under the theme Juneteenth Brings Balance to America’s Celebration of Freedom. The museum’s programming included family-friendly activities that mixed remembrance and celebration.

A few miles away at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, the BLK Ass Flea Market held its third annual Rhythm Liberation Fest from noon to 6 p.m. on June 19. The event featured Grammy-nominated R&B artist Tweet and more than 50 Black-owned vendors, with children under 13 admitted free. Vendor Taylor Patterson said the market was the event where she typically made the most money and saw the most of the community, while organizer Brianne Mobley said the day was a chance to take up space and keep the coin in the community.

Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced freedom to enslaved people there. The holiday is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day and is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021, making the observance a federal holiday.

Baltimore’s Juneteenth weekend included AFRAM’s 50th anniversary at Druid Hill Park from June 19 through June 21. Mayor Brandon M. Scott has called AFRAM a homecoming and an economic engine for local businesses and artists.