Roxbury marks Juneteenth with a message of unity

It's been just three years since Juneteenth was made a national holiday, yet many people in the Black community in Boston have been celebrating the symbolic end of slavery much longer.

But even those new to the festivities are an essential part of the day's mission, said Jumaada Abdal-Khallaq Henry Smith, organizer of Boston's 14th annual Juneteenth Emancipation Observance in Roxbury. This year's theme is, "Forging Tomorrow Today: Reparation to Restoration."

"It's going to take all of us," Henry Smith said Wednesday. " I hope [those here] take away love, joy, restoration, beauty."

A few hundred people gathered at Roxbury Heritage State Park to raise the Juneteenth flag —  created by Ben Haith, a community activist from Boston, and illustrator Lisa Jeanne-Graf.

Also known as Emancipation Day, June 19 marks the date enslaved people in Galveston, Tex. learned of their freedom in 1865 under the Emancipation Proclamation. Historically celebrated among Black Americans as a day of reflection and celebration to honor their cultural heritage and history, Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021. Many states and the District of Columbia now recognize the date as a public holiday.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, the first Black woman elected to statewide office, spoke at Wednesday's flag-raising and thanked the elders in the crowd.

"Thank you for what you've planted, the seeds you've planted in us," she said.

Wilma Browne, 89, has celebrated Juneteenth for years. Her late husband, Ralph F. Browne, organized Juneteenth ceremonies in Boston. She said it's always been an important day to her.

"To me, it was just something different and something special," she said. "Because it was for us."

Mercer University student Choice McCarty is this year's Miss Juneteenth, and was dressed in a sequin dress for the celebration.

"It's a reminder of some of the not so great aspects of my heritage, but some of the really beautiful ones," McCarty said of Juneteenth. "It's important to be able to see people who look like you in your community prospering and having fun and celebrating their history."

Being with others in her community, she said, lifts her up.

Planned festivities later in the day included a parade from the park to The National Center of Afro-American Artists. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was scheduled to deliver remarks on the museum's grounds later in the afternoon.