Families Flock to Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s Juneteenth Jubilee Celebration

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute hosted its day long “Juneteenth Jubilee” celebration in the heart of the Civil Rights District.

The event combined the history of freedom with a block party that included food trucks, a DJ and even line dancing. Organizers wanted to make sure the celebration also served as a reminder of the freedom and history that marked the original holiday.

When we arrived late Friday morning, visitors were already lined up outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to gain free entry today as part of the “Juneteenth Jubilee”.

We met up with BCRI historian Barry McNealy in front of a carriage covered in colorful flowers, similar to the way carriages used to be decorated to celebrate freedom and emancipation before there were automobiles.

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston to inform enslaved African Americans that they were free more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

“When we talk about June 19, 1865, this is months after April 9, 1865 when the Civil War had come to an end, formally ending slavery. There were still people held in bondage,” McNealy explained.

“General Gordon Granger, sailed to Galveston, Texas, and he read General Order Number 5, that freed these people officially, and they began to celebrate, and they celebrated for days, hence Juneteenth,” he added.

The BCRI’s Juneteenth Jubilee seeks to honor that history with free entry to the institute, and free tours of the 16th Street Baptist Church and Civil Rights National Monument.

Shon Cheatham braved the heat with her 6-month-old baby girl and two young nieces in tow.

“It’s important for them to know their culture, know where they come from, know where their people come from, and it’s just important that we know how far we have come,” Cheatham said.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 and a state holiday in 2025.