Gainesville hosts 6th annual Journey to Juneteenth events
Press release from the City of Gainesville
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The City of Gainesville, in partnership with the community, invites all neighbors to the sixth annual Journey to Juneteenth: Florida Emancipation to National Celebration, a monthlong series of events honoring emancipation and Black history. This year’s theme is “A Season of Freedom, Strength & Unity.”
The kickoff begins with a flag-raising ceremony and a proclamation recognizing Florida’s actual emancipation date – May 20, 1865 – when enslaved Africans in Tallahassee first received word of their freedom, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
When: 10-11 a.m. Wed., May 20
Where: City Hall Plaza, 200 E. University Ave.
Journey to Juneteenth events continue through June 19th, the date when communities nationwide commemorate the announcement of freedom reaching Texas in 1865.
Additional events include:
- Florida Emancipation Celebration, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., May 23 at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, free
- Juneteenth Film Festival, 5:15-7:15 p.m. Sat., June 6 at the Hippodrome Cinema, free: “Mama Bhangra” (5:30 p.m.); “Broken Notes” (5:55 p.m.); “Live Performance: Wester Joseph” (6:05 p.m.); “The Florida Chitlin’ Circuit: Where the Legends Came to Play During the Jim Crow Era” (6:35 p.m.)
- Storytime at Depot Park, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Thurs., June 18 at Depot Park play area, free
- Juneteenth: Honoring The Journey, Advancing The Dream, noon-7 p.m. Thurs., June 18 at the Santa Fe College Blount Center, free
- Juneteenth Breakfast and Black Music Month Celebration, 7:30-9 a.m. Fri., June 19 at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, ticketed event ($40)
- Juneteenth National Holiday Celebration, 10 a.m.-noon Fri., June 19 at Bo Diddley Plaza, free
- Freedom Fest 2026, 3-9 p.m. Sat., June 20 at Bo Diddley Plaza, free
- HAHAlelujah Comedy Show, 6-8:30 p.m. Sat., June 20, ticketed event ($30/$35)
- Tha Cookout: A Juneteenth Fatherhood Celebration, Noon-6 p.m. Sun., June 21 (Location TBA), free with RSVP.
The chains of slavery have long ago been broken. How bout some personal responsibility and self reliance for a change?
“the Voting Rights Act was meant to rectify the widespread disenfranchisement of black Americans in the South who couldn’t vote because of things like poll taxes and literacy tests and grandfather clauses and all-white primaries. And there was a situation where in states like Mississippi, for example, only 6% of African-Americans were registered to vote. That was a situation that existed for many, many years in the South.
It only changed when there were huge protests of the Civil Rights Movement that people are very familiar with. For example, the march in Selma, Alabama on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, when John Lewis and Civil Rights marchers were brutally beaten by Alabama state troopers. The footage from Selma, Alabama really transformed the nation and led to LBJ introducing the Voting Rights Act and the Congress passing it overwhelmingly.”
“I think what’s really important here for Black America is to realize this. We did not just come this far to get this far. And our ancestors who marched, who protested, who bled, who died, who were assassinated, who were taken from their families much too soon and too young, like 39-year-old Dr. Marley the King Jr., like Medgar Evers, who was quite young and in his 30s, and Fannie Lou Hamer, who was beaten by police officers and other folk, we didn’t come this far easily.
This is a difficult road that we trod, as our Black National Anthem says, but we were built for this moment in time. And as a spiritual person who practices Christianity, I have to tell you this, I think we have been sent for such a time as this. And everybody who is alive right now has a responsibility in this moment to do something.
So if that is march, do that. If that’s protest, do that. If that’s run for office, do that.
If that’s sign a petition, do that. But you’ve got to do something because the moment is coming where somebody’s going to look you in the eyes[…]”
From The Intercept Briefing: The Supreme Court Ends Multiracial Democracy as We Know It, May 8, 2026
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intercept-briefing/id1195206601?i=1000766767575&r=2558
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Nothing will change if you keep bringing up the past. Moving forward quit talking about it. Every race has horror stories to talk about, white, yellow, brown or black. Quit talking about grief and move forward. We grow tired of hearing the same sad stories about race every year.
Yeah,. to hell with the 4th of July, right?
Yeah, and the revolution was 250 years ago, so why are celebrating?
Cut the racist crap.
I thought Black History month was February. Now we have almost a month-long celebration of sorts for Juneteenth. Are the alphabet people going to want to share?
Where’s the heterosexual, Caucasian month — even a week — celebration?
People should chill on the Junteenth hate. There are few historical cultural events worth celebrating more than the release from bondage.
We already had Black History month why are the Commissioners trying for another month of it. Just stop already !!
There are also plenty of other US events that occurred on June 19th throughout history (both good and bad) I look at it as June 19th being the first Father’s Day celebrated and there were two important dates for WWll with the U.S. having battle wins over Japan. Juneteenth is the recognized Federal holiday. Florida is widely recognized Emancipation Day as May 20th. But the Journey cuts over other holidays like Memorial Day, and Flag Day. It is ridiculous that a small group of federally observed holidays and grown into more or less a free day off.
and let’s not forget, that Juneteenth did not end slavery up in the yankee states. It was January 1866 when New Jersey finally freed their slaves.