Juneteenth is Freedom Day for Black Americans, a celebration to mark the day when the last remaining American slaves learned they were finally free from bondage.
United States soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 with news that the Civil War was over and that enslaved people were free.
This was nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Many Americans now celebrate Juneteenth to honor Black American ancestors’ sacrifice and in hope for a more equitable future. The holiday has also become a flash point for conservatives.
Recognition & Resistance
Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, but 17 states still refuse to grant a paid day off for state workers, and some local governments actively blocking its adoption.
Nassau County is the only county in New York State to refuse to recognize Juneteenth as a paid public holiday for its workers.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the Republican-controlled county legislature have blocked the recognition. Republican-led Hunterdon County remains the lone holdout in New Jersey.
This year’s Juneteenth comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s demolition of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and other recent Republican-led political acts, such as the removal of Black American history from federal historical sites.
These are a sobering reminder, as Veronica Degraffenreid writes in “Juneteenth and the Unfinished Fight for Voting Rights,” that “a country founded on the idea of freedom has denied, delayed, or eroded the rights of its Black citizens, especially when it comes to voting.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
Upcoming Juneteenth celebrations include, film screenings, music, lectures, family and food fairs, walks, a bus tour, exhibits, kids activities and more around New York State. You can also find educational and other historical resources below and ways to support New York Almanack‘s Black History efforts.
June 18-20, New York Public Library Juneteenth Events
The New York Public Library is hosting several upcoming events for Juneteenth, including a Juneteenth film (Thursday, June 18, 2026, 12 – 2 pm); Freedom Heroes Costume Party (June 18, 4-4:45 pm); and a Juneteenth Saturday Family Storytime on Saturday, June 20, from noon until 1 pm. See their webpage for more information.
June 18-20, Freedom Walkers in Rochester Area
In May living historian Tony Cohen began a 750-mile walk following the path of Harriet Tubman and so many others who escaped from slavery into freedom. He started at the Sandy Spring Slave Museum in Maryland and is following Tubman’s general route up the Hudson River to Albany and then west to Ontario, along New York State’s proposed Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Corridor. These “Freedom Walkers” will in the Farmington-Macedon-Rochester area for programs from June 18-20, 2026. Details are available here.
June 18-22 Chronology of Abolition Exhibit in Madison County
The exhibit, “The Chronology of American Abolition from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction” is on view through June 22 at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro, in Madison County, NY. The eight foot square panels are loaded with photographs, posters, broadsides, documents, and records that provide adults and children a source of information on people, places, and events that were part of the steps toward freedom in the United States. The community center shares a building with the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
June 18, Plattsburgh Blues Concert
The first of three days of Juneteenth celebrations in Clinton and Essex counties, which were hotbeds of abolitionism during a transforming time in American history will feature a Friday evening concert by with blues guitarist Solomon Hicks from NYC, at Retro Live, 14 Margaret Street in Plattsburgh. The Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir and poet Elijah Hendrix will be opening the show.
June 18, Harlem Parks Juneteenth Festival
Harlem Library, The Children’s Storefront, Studio Museum and Historic Harlem Parks present this free festival from 10 am to 1 pm featuring jumbo games, Puppetmobile, kids’ activities on the Mt. Morris Oval and musical performance on stage at the Northwest Lawn of Marcus Garvey Park. More information is available here.
June 19, Beat Authority Juneteenth Music Celebration (Virtual)
North Country Public Radio’s “Beat Authority” Juneteenth celebration is an annual, crowd-sourced broadcast hosted by DJ David Sommerstein. The Friday afternoon show celebrates Black culture, freedom, and excellence through listener requests and an eclectic mix of music such as Afrobeat, reggae, cumbia, and global dance grooves. The show airs online from 3 to 5 pm, and is also available afterward here.
June 19, Black-Owned Farms in Early Westchester, Philipse Manor Hall (Virtual)
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site will present a talk on the many small communities of Black landowners that existed in the county during and shortly after the abolition of slavery in the state in 1827. “Black-Owned Farms in Early Westchester” will take place at 2 pm on Friday, June 19, both in-person at Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers and online via YouTube Live. Visit the Philipse Manor Hall virtual wing for more information.
June 19, Vale Cemetery Juneteenth Celebration, Schenectady
Vale Cemetery will host a Juneteenth celebration on June 19 from 3 to 6 pm in the historic African American Ancestral Burial Ground section of Vale. This area holds the final resting places of formerly enslaved freedom seekers who made Schenectady their home, Civil War veterans, abolitionists, and individuals whose graves were located from an older African-American burial ground on Veeder Avenue near State Street. The event will include a libations ceremony, African drumming, a Negro spiritual performance, poetry reading, a headstone preservation demonstration, and an ice cream social with ice cream courtesy of Stewart’s. This year, attendees are also encouraged to bring their own picnic in keeping with the historic tradition of families picnicking in rural cemeteries like Vale. This event is free and open to the public; for more information visit this website.
June 19, A New History of Slavery and Emancipation in Cazenovia
Manisha Sinha, who researches and writes about the global histories of slavery, abolition, and feminism and the history and legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction, will present “A New History of Slavery and Emancipation” as a way to commemorate Juneteenth, at 7 pm at the Catherine Cummings Theatre, 16 Lincklaen Street, in Cazenovia, NY. The talk is free and open to the public. Sales of her books and a book signing will follow. Pre-registration is encouraged by visiting the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum website.
June 19, Lower Manhattan Annual Juneteenth Celebration
Battery Park City Authority in Lower Manhattan will host its annual Juneteenth Celebration, a free community event for all ages featuring storytelling, pony rides, music, dance and more. The afternoon kicks off with The Federation of Black Cowboys, who will share the history of Juneteenth through a demonstration of Western horsemanship. Children ages 3+ can then enjoy pony rides with views of the waterfront park. The Harlem-based Go Hard Dancers will lead an interactive hip hop and soul line dancing workshop. More information about this 11:30 to 2:30 pm event at Rockefeller Park (River Terrace & Murray Street) is available here.
June 19, Weeksville Juneteenth Food Festival, Brooklyn
Weeksville Heritage Center, a historic, independent African American community founded in 1838 located in present-day Crown Heights, is joining forces with Black-Owned Brooklyn for the 5th Annual Juneteenth Food Festival. Food has been at the heart of Juneteenth since its earliest celebrations, and for five years, they’ve carried that tradition forward on their historic grounds, where Black history runs deep. There will be a host of vendors, live performances, music, and more from noon until 8 pm. Details are located here.
June 20, New York City Juneteenth Parade
New York City’s Juneteenth weekend spans all five boroughs with a density of programming unmatched anywhere outside the South, but the highlight is the NYC Juneteenth Parade on June 20, which runs through Brooklyn from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Restoration Plaza, drawing community organizations, HBCU alumni, fraternities and sororities, and tens of thousands of spectators. The parade starts at Gotham Health Center Going To Gershwin Park.
June 20, Long Island Juneteenth Cultural Festival, Nassau County
Long Island’s largest annual Juneteenth Cultural Festival takes place from noon to 6 pm at the Hicksville Long Island Rail Road Station outdoor grounds. The festival brings together culture, community, and small businesses to a free, family-friendly and community-wide event featuring live entertainment, cultural programming, local Black-owned vendors, food, wellness experiences, and community resources. More information is available here.
June 20, NYS Museum in Albany
In celebration of Juneteenth, join Dr. Jennifer Lemak and Rapp Road Historical Association for an engaging gallery talk on “Fashion and Faith: Hats of the Great Migration.” Explore how the hats worn in Black churches during the Great Migration were more than fashion—they were symbols of faith, resilience, and personal identity. Dr. Lemak will share the stories behind these extraordinary “crowns,” highlighting how they reflected the journeys, leadership, and creativity of women who navigated new lives in New York State while holding onto their heritage and hope for the future. This free 1 pm program is offered in the New York State Museum’s West Corridor. More information is located here.
June 20, The Brothers Documentary Showing in Albany
NY State Archivist Brian Keough will provide an introduction to a special screening of the documentary The Brothers: Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in Albany (25 minutes). The film explores The Brothers, a civil rights organization founded in 1966 by working-class African American men from Albany’s Arbor Hill and South End neighborhoods. Formed over a dispute with hiring by local unions and predating the Black Panther Party,The Brothers was a group which personified the Black power movement in Albany during the mid- to late 1960s. This free 2 pm event event will be held in the New York State Museum’s Huxley Theater. More information is available here.
June 20, Potsdam Juneteenth Celebration
The seventh annual Potsdam community-wide Juneteenth Celebration will be held on Saturday, June 20 from 3 until 8 pm at the Ives Park Gazebo, behind the Clarkson Inn at 1 Main St. in Potsdam. All are invited to attend. The Juneteenth Celebration Organizing Committee presents this family-friendly event that celebrates the culture of African-Americans and provides a space for Black voices to be honored. More information is available here.
June 20, Northern New York Underground Railroad Bus Tour
A bus tour of Underground Railroad sites leaves from the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, 1131 Mace Chasm Road in Ausable Chasm at 10 am. The bus costs $10 for an individual and $20 for a family. The tour will go from Keeseville and Peru to Beekmantown and Plattsburgh stopping at key sites in the area, including churches involved in the abolitionist struggle and local cemeteries, with reenactors. Included is a stop at the Plattsburgh Public Library for a free movie screening about how the Underground Railroad helped a United States soldier get home from a Confederate prison. The bus will return to the North Star Museum at 4:00 pm. Register online here.
June 20, Plattsburgh Public Library “Union Bound” Film Screening
Plattsburgh Public Library will host a free special screening of the film “Union Bound.” The movie highlights the true story of a United States soldier who escapes a Confederate prison and is aided on his journey home by the Underground Railroad. The 1:30 pm event is included in the bus tour above, but also open to the public.
June 20, Black Life in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain Exhibit
The Plattsburgh State Art Museum will play host to “What Remains: Voices from the Margins of History,” an exhibit of photographs from the Clinton County Historical Association that capture early 20th century African American life in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain region by photographer Daniel Brush. The exhibit runs from June 20 through October 2 in the Slatkin Study Room, Myers Fine Arts Building, 101 Broad Street in Plattsburgh. A free opening reception will be held June 20th from 5 to 7 pm. More information is available here.
June 20-21, Juneteenth Exhibit in Peterboro, Madison County
The Peterboro Area Museum is introducing “Four for Freedom,” a two-day exhibit of photographs, broadsides, and descriptive information for Juneteenth Weekend 2026 on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday June 21 from 1 to 4 pm. The exhibit details the experiences of Harriet Powell, Harriet Russell (and family), John Tyler, and John The Dominie West represent the hundreds of freedom seekers who arrived in Peterboro came via the Underground Railroad. The Peterboro Area Museum is located at 4608 Peterboro Road in Peterboro at the eastern end of the hamlet green.
June 21, Abolition, The Free Church Movement & The Liberty Party in Peterboro
Donna Dorrance Burdick will present about the free churches in Madison County to explain the antislavery impact that the Free Church Movement – including the formation of the Liberty Party, a name suggested by Gerrit Smith of Peterboro. Burdick will include the famous abolitionists who spoke at these churches, the contributions of the black residents to the Peterboro Methodist Episcopal Church, and the creation and influence of the Black Community Church in Peterboro. This free program will be held at 11 am, at the Peterboro United Methodist Church, 5280 Pleasant Valley Road, in Peterboro, NY. Refreshments will be served at 10:30 before the program. For more information visit this website.
June 21, Juneteenth Celebration at John Brown Farm in Lake Placid
On Sunday, June 21, from noon to 2:30 pm John Brown Farm State historic Site will host a free family-themed fair including a concert featuring the well-known Adirondack group, Jamcrackers. Also, the Praise Tabernacle Dancers will perform and there will be a recitation of John Brown’s final speech at his gravesite. More information is available here.
NYC Parks & State Parks & I Love NY Juneteenth Events
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is host to 20 free Juneteenth events around the city through June 20th. You can view them all here. There are a few upcoming events not listed above at the New York State Parks and I Love NY events calendars.
EDUCATIONAL & HISTORICAL RESOURCES
Archives Jr! Special Juneteenth Issue
Archives Jr! magazine is offering young readers (grades 4-8) an Juneteenth issue focusing on African American history, including “Land of the Blacks: Uncovering America’s first Free Black Community; “Equal Rights for All: The fight for justice and civil rights,” “Enslavement in New York: Confronting a history often left untold,” “Slavery and the Wheat Economy: How forced labor fueled industry,” and “New York and the Underground Railroad: Stories of courage and freedom.” These stories show New York’s history is deeply intertwined with the struggle for liberation — and the resilience of those who fought for it. Request Archives Jr! here.
Gilder Leham Institute’s Juneteenth Archives & Resources
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers free resources related to Juneteenth, including primary sources, essays, lesson plans, history courses, films and more. You can find them all here.
New York Almanack is among largest promoters of New York State’s Black History anywhere, but we can’t do it without your support. Please make a gift of any size here to help keep us publishing.
Read more about Black History in New York.
New York’s black history can also be found under such tags as Slavery, Abolition, Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Reconstruction, the Civil War, and White Supremacy. We also report on the upcoming 2027 200th Anniversary of the End of Slavery in New York.
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