Juneteenth was observed across the Bay Area on Friday, as community members gathered at the Oakland Museum of California for a day filled with music, food, art and culture.
June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free. While Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday in 2021, many in attendance reflected on the meaning of the day and shared how long they have been honoring the tradition.
The community event, organized by the museum and the Black Freedom Fund, brought out neighbors, families and friends — some of whom were attending for the first time.
“This is an important celebration for who we are as a people,” Oakland resident Brandie Quoa said. “My children, their father is from Ghana, and we just want to be here to celebrate our culture together in community with other folks from Oakland.”
Organizers emphasized the importance of honoring the past while celebrating the present.
“We are super excited to celebrate with the community and bring a little bit of the history and understanding of what it means to have freedom, what it means to be granted freedom two years after everyone else found out about it,” said L. Autumn King, Oakland Museum of California. “We’re here to celebrate today Black joy, Black resilience.”
For an Oakland resident named Anthony, who grew up celebrating the holiday in Houston, the recent national recognition adds a new layer to a lifelong tradition.
“I came out to celebrate, to see all the beautiful smiles,” he said. “It’s amazing to see it federally recognized, and now they’re celebrating it as I always have.”
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee also stopped by the festivities to emphasize the holiday’s broader message.
“Here in Oakland, we have a chance to celebrate those who came before us,” Lee said. “The celebration of Juneteenth is about the resilience of Black people who migrated from Texas to Oakland, but also we all have to come together to fight for our freedoms and what is right for all of our communities.”