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June 20, 2019Media Advisory | Juneteenth: A South Pearl Street Festival Saturday
Juneteenth: A South Pearl Street Festival will bring together the community, cultural organizations, and entrepreneurs to commemorate slavery’s abolition in the US, and celebrate South Pearl Street’s vibrancy. 2019 marks the 15th anniversary of a Juneteenth celebration in the City of Albany, with this year’s event encouraging people to experience the variety of businesses found along the bustling South Pearl Street corridor that speaks to the diversity, familial roots, and resilience of the neighborhood. Free and open to the public, activities will take place between 135 and 165 South Pearl Street, and on Herkimer Street between South Pearl Street and Franklin Street.
Performers will include Jahquai “Quadi” Oliver, Rodney “Rod” Davis, H.I.P. H.O.P. Dance Group, and Darien “Poetic Visionz” Gooden with the celebration also consisting of open houses at the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region (135 S Pearl Street), The Albany Coliseum (153 S Pearl Street), and Root3d (165 S Pearl Street); an Albany Fire Department fire truck on-site; the Albany Police Department Mobile ID unit, which provides children with identification cards, emergency contact protocol, and fingerprinting services; a bounce house located in The Albany Coliseum’s parking lot; and vendors lining the street.
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were now free; this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. Juneteenth celebrations are held annually on or around June 19th across the United States in celebration of this freedom.
