This June will mark the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center’s 17th annual Juneteenth in Da Rock celebration, and the Black history museum kicked off what it calls the Juneteenth season Thursday by announcing new partnerships and events that will help make this year’s celebration the largest Arkansas has seen yet.

Key Fletcher, director of Mosaic Templars, told a crowd inside the museum’s ballroom that the museum, which is part of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, is partnering with the city of Little Rock and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau this year.

“Together, we are working to make this the largest Juneteenth in Da Rock the state has ever seen,” Fletcher said. “Our vision is clear — to bring together culture, commerce, music and movement to downtown Little Rock, while creating opportunities across Arkansas for every community to participate.”

This year’s Juneteenth in Da Rock festival will be a multiday event beginning on Juneteenth (June 19), which falls on a Friday. 

New events this year include a Juneteenth in Da Rock summit at the Robinson Center and a party on the Arkansas River at First Security Amphitheater.

The June 19 summit will feature speakers, breakout sessions and an exhibition hall centered on Black culture, history and community, designed to both entertain and educate. The party on the river will happen that evening, but details have not yet been announced. 

The following Saturday morning, June 20, will be the 5th annual 5k Freedom Run from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. that begins on West Ninth Street and moves through historic Arkansas neighborhoods and communities like Arkansas Baptist College, the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and Philander Smith University. 

From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. that same Saturday will be the street festival along West Ninth Street, featuring vendors, food trucks, a children’s zone, local and national artists and other fun activities that celebrate the history of Juneteenth. 

“Juneteenth is a part of Arkansas’s story,” Fletcher said. “Juneteenth is more than a moment, as everyone has said, it is a season, a celebration of education and culture and pride.”

Juneteenth, a blend of the words “June” and “19th,” hence the name, honors the end of chattel slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, U.S. Army Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, to let enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas, know that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, meaning that enslaved people in states that seceded from the Union were finally free. Although Juneteenth has become a federal holiday in recent years, different African-American communities across the country have celebrated what is sometimes referred to as “freedom day” for generations.

The first enslaved people to arrive in what later became the state of Arkansas did so around 1720, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. As ownership of the colonized land of Arkansas changed hands from the French to the Spanish to the U.S., the enslaved population ultimately grew, comprising about 25%of the state’s population by 1860. Enslaved people existed all throughout Arkansas, in urban and rural communities across the state, including Little Rock.

As slavery ended in the 1860s, many enslaved people in Arkansas fled from plantations to stations Union troops were at, as Union bases often meant safety for the enslaved. Many formerly enslaved people fled to Little Rock, some of them helping to establish what used to be the city’s historic West Ninth Street, which was a thriving corridor for Black business in the early to mid 20th century until the construction of Interstate 630 destroyed the community.

The city this year is seeking to establish a Juneteenth celebration that honors and connects back to Little Rock’s identity, said Stasha Irby, vice president of sales, services and community engagement at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Our vision is to position Little Rock as the place for Juneteenth,” Irby said. “Little Rock is a place where people come not only to celebrate but to engage with the history, culture and experiences that make this moment so important.”

Irby said that the city has a new Juneteenth website up where people can start planning their Juneteenth weekend and stay updated on events and ways to get involved. Attendees can also plan family reunions or group gatherings through the webpage. Volunteer opportunities are also available through the website, and runners and walkers can register for the 5k. People could also choose to host or support a local Juneteenth event in their community.

In a virtual message shared at the kickoff event Thursday, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. encouraged vendors and artists who want to be on the festival stage to begin applying today.

“Juneteenth is culture. Juneteenth is community. Juneteenth is economic power. This year, we are expanding participation statewide, partnering with churches, schools, cities and community organizations, so that every corner of Arkansas can take part in honoring freedom. Freedom deserves a celebration that matches its power,” Scott said.

Shea Lewis, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, said that almost 10,000 people attended last year’s Juneteenth festival and that they expect this year’s celebration to have even more participants. He said that having the city of Little Rock involved will greatly help in expanding the annual Juneteenth celebration and ensures its continued growth year after year.

Overall, much buzz and excitement filled the ballroom Thursday afternoon.

“When you think about the enslaved who were here in Arkansas, you think about the history of West Ninth Street,” Fletcher said. “Early Juneteenth celebrations, or freedom day celebrations, were happening in this very area. So when [Mosaic Templars’ Cultural Center] first opened, we knew that it was our charge to preserve history. So it was a no-brainer to start Juneteenth celebrations. When we started the first celebrations, it was in this space, and it barely filled the space. Now we sprawl across Ninth Street, we expand across the city, and we’re not a reservoir, we are a river across the state of Arkansas.”