Juneteenth celebrations of Black liberation and freedom spread out around the country over the weekend, including Monterey, Seaside and Santa Cruz.
Now in its 35th year, the six-hour event in Santa Cruz started with a march from City Hall in downtown Santa Cruz and ended in Laurel Park.
Juneteenth marks the day the last group of enslaved African Americans learned that they were free on June 19, 1866, according to Santa Cruz Juneteenth.
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective 1863, there was difficulty getting it implemented in places that were still under Confederate control. Around 200 Union troops came to Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that the 250,000 enslaved blacks were liberated by executive decree. The announcement triggered a jubilee, a day now known as Juneteenth, African American Independence Day.
Put on by Ana Elizabeth and David Claytor since the 1990s, this year’s theme was “Resilience.”
Musical performances included The Joint Chiefs, Phreeborn & the Phreequency, Gina René, the Juneteenth Choir and more. Dance, poetry, soul food, and craft booths, sack races and a basketball clinic filled out the free event.
