Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum will hold its eighth annual Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 17, featuring live performances throughout the day, local vendors, and free admission to the museum.
The free event will take place in the 200 block of Montgomery Street, which runs in front of the museum, and will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Observed annually on June 19, Juneteenth is the oldest known commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, commemorating the date in 1865 when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were free. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation declaring Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
“The Rosa Parks Museum is excited for our eighth annual Juneteenth celebration,” said Donna Beisel, the museum’s director of operations. “It has become an event that members of the local community, as well as visitors to our city, look forward to each year, and we welcome all to come out and enjoy this time of celebration and commemoration.”
Entertainment will be presented throughout the day, including headlining jazz, R&B and soul group Off the Chain who will perform at 1:30 p.m. Other performers during the day are Ava Keith, MJ Lyons, Ian Malinowski, Dionn Overton, Damian B, Nameless, Different Flavors of Dance, C-Heights, Mr. Hansome, Aayden Johnson, Duron Hale and Blueroot.
DJ at Large will provide DJ services for the day’s event, and Shayla Mitchell will be the emcee.
In addition to food, merchandise and service vendors, the event will also feature a kids’ area and arts and crafts activities, and the 1950s-era Montgomery city bus and a 1960s-era Greyhound bus, provided by the Freedom Rides Museum with a special program, “Catching the THINK BIG SPIRIT” with Levi Gaillard, taking place at 1 p.m.
Through the generosity of Montgomery County Commissioner Isaiah Sankey, Walter Patton from Crown Residential Mortgage will be offering workshops at noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m. on how to build wealth through home ownership.
In addition to the regular exhibits inside the museum, visitors will have an opportunity to view the work of artist Stephen Mangum in the museum’s gallery. Born in Mississippi in 1954, Mangum’s “Illusions of My Childhood” collection confronts his Southern heritage, recreating scenes from the struggle to Civil Rights by such 1960s photojournalists as Charles Moore, Matt Herron, and Bill Hudson, and then superimposing current day portraits of his grandchildren to link the past with the present. By illustrating that the racism and inhumanity of his childhood continue to permeate the American landscape, he hopes to encourage dialogue towards unity.
For additional information about the museum or the Juneteenth celebration, call 334-241-8615 or contact Donna Beisel (dbeisel@troy.edu), McKenzie Walker (mwalker166145@troy.edu), or Gladisha Robertson (gjrobertson@troy.edu).
