Communities across Oregon are celebrating Juneteenth with several weekend events

From celebrating hair to family reunions, Juneteenth – joyful, plentiful with music, food and community – is a visible reminder of resilience in a state which once envisioned itself as a white utopia.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and is also celebrated as Freedom Day, Jubilee, Emancipation Day or second independence day, as it marks the day the nation’s last enslaved people gained freedom. On June 19, 1865, Union Army troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree. Juneteenth celebrations began the following year in churches and homes.

The commemoration of that history holds significance in Oregon, which prohibited slavery in 1843, but one year later, passed its first Black exclusion law, permitting the punishment of Blacks who tried to settle in the state. Oregon’s exclusion law would remain in the state constitution until 1926. Individual communities also took action to exclude African-Americans and other minorities, and became known as “sundown towns.” According to the Oregon Remembrance Project, “it is estimated that most of Oregon was once a sundown town.”

The celebrations connect the past to the present in joyful gatherings. You’ll hear “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem. The Emancipation Proclamation will be read aloud, and there’ll be live music, food, activities for kids, and Black-owned vendors and exhibits.

Eugene is celebrating its fourth annual Juneteenth on June 18 at Alton Baker Park with the theme “Black Hair Matters.”