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Celebrating Juneteenth 2024 in the Madison community

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Find opportunities to celebrate Juneteenth on campus and in the surrounding community.

Juneteenth is celebrated each year on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when U.S. troops liberated nearly 200,000 Black Americans in Texas, bringing freedom to the last enslaved people in the former Confederacy more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. It’s a celebration of freedom and African American history, culture and progress.

 

Saturday, June 15

  • 10:00 a.m. – Juneteenth in the Park, Penn Park, 2101 Fisher St, Madison (learn more)
  • 10:00 a.m. – Father’s Day/Juneteenth Prostate Screening & Education Expo, Urban League, 2222 S Park St., Madison (learn more)
  • 10:45 a.m. – Parade at Juneteenth in the Park, Penn Park, 2101 Fisher St, Madison (register)

Sunday, June 16

  • 11:00 a.m. – McFarland Juneteenth Celebration, Arnold Larson Park, 6002 Exchange St, McFarland (learn more)

Tuesday, June 18

  • 3:00 p.m. – Juneteenth Fundraiser, Bierock, 2911 N. Sherman Ave., Madison (learn more)
  • 4:00 p.m. – Juneteenth Marketplace, Giant Jones Brewing Co., 931 E. Main St., Madison (learn more)

Wednesday, June 19

  • 3:00 p.m. – Juneteenth Fundraiser, Bierock, 2911 N. Sherman Ave., Madison (learn more)
  • 4:00 p.m. – Unveiling Juneteenth Tour, Chazen Museum (learn more)
  • 4:00 p.m. – Juneteenth Marketplace, Giant Jones Brewing Company, 931 E Main St., Suite 9, Madison (learn more)
  • 4:00 p.m. – Juneteenth Benefit: Color in the Outdoors, The Biergarten at Olbrich Park, Madison (learn more)
  • 5:00 p.m. – Black Business Mix & Mingle, Olin Park, 1156 Olin-Turville Court, Madison (register)
  • 5:30 p.m. – Juneteenth Celebration with EXPO, Urban League, 2222 S Park St., Madison (learn more)
  • 7:00 p.m. – Open Mic, 610 North St., Madison, WI (learn more)
  • 7:00 p.m. – We’re The Color Purple Burlesque Musical, Crucible, 3116 Commercial Ave., Madison (learn more)

Thursday, June 20

  • 6:00 p.m. – Forward Madison FC Juneteenth Performance, Breese Stevens Field, 917 East Mifflin St., Madison (learn more)

Friday, June 21

  • 7:00 p.m. – YP Juneteenth Social: Family Reunion, Black Business Hub, 2352 S Park St., Madison (learn more)

The history of Juneteenth

The Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared freedom for the millions of enslaved people in areas under Confederate rule. However, it wasn’t until the victory of the U.S. over the rebellion in the spring of 1865 that the great majority of African Americans could confidently assert that freedom.

A hand-made art book with block prints in purple, green, yellow and blue reading "Juneteenth Day 1996 / FREEDOM"
Juneteenth printed book created in 1996 by printer, book artist and papermaker Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (MFA ’97) while he was a graduate student at UW–Madison. (Courtesy of Kohler Art Library)

Even after the war ended, slavery persisted in Texas. There, sheltered by distance from federal authority, slaveholders refused to acknowledge the new reality. It was only the arrival of U.S. troops that ended the slaveholders’ power and brought freedom to nearly 200,000 Texans.

Juneteenth (also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day and Emancipation Day) celebrates the official proclamation of that freedom by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865. Black Texans first celebrated the anniversary in 1866, and as the descendants of formerly enslaved Texans spread across the U.S. in the years that followed, they brought the tradition with them. The holiday was first officially recognized by the state of Wisconsin in 2009.

The Juneteenth flag was created in 1997 by Ben Haith, founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, and revised in 2000 and 2007 to become the flag that is displayed around the country today. The flag depicts a star surrounded by a nova in the red, white and blue of the American flag, representing a new beginning and the true realization of the freedoms laid out in the Declaration of Independence.

Learn more about Juneteenth

A hand-made paper art book page
Juneteenth printed book created in 1996 by printer, book artist and papermaker Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (MFA ’97) while he was a graduate student at UW–Madison. (Courtesy of Kohler Art Library)