Juneteenth

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s Juneteenth Arts Festival is now a two-day event. It opens Friday, June 19 with an exhibition of African face jugs inspired by vessels created by Southern enslaved potters along with African artifacts, followed by a performance of “Words, Beats & Movement” featuring local performers.

A free Juneteenth celebration will be taking place in Naples over the weekend.

Groups come together to celebrate Juneteenth in Fort Myers at the STARS Complex.

It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — after Civil War's end and two years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Many Americans are celebrating Juneteenth, that day in 1865 when a Union officer announced liberation.

The Lee County Black History Society is preparing to celebrate their annual Juneteenth event.

Juneteenth celebration in Fort Myers, honors a historic-based event.

The city of Fort Myers celebrated Juneteenth for the 11th year

Lee County Black History Society celebrates Emancipation Day in Florida Saturday.

Photographer Kinfay Moroti documented the local festival in Fort Myers.

Juneteenth, also known as Black Independence Day Emancipation Day or Jubilee Day, celebrates the abolition of the slavery of African Americans. June 19 is recognized as Juneteeth, marking the day in 1865 that Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger traveled to Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved Black people of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation two-and-a-half years prior.In Southwest Florida, a number of events celebrating and commemorating Juneteenth are scheduled for this weekend. Here’s a list: