For leaders of local arts and culture organizations, Juneteenth National Independence Day, taking place this Wednesday, June 19, is an opportunity to celebrate African American history and heritage through the arts. Juneteenth, which marks the anniversary of the June 19, 1865, emancipation of enslaved people in Texas and other former Confederate states, honors the experience of the millions of Black people who suffered under slavery and recognizes the struggle of the many who resisted and fought for freedom. The holiday celebrates liberation, self-determination and empowerment — qualities that are also central to social justice work.

Humboldt County’s first official Juneteenth celebration was organized in 2019 by members of Black Humboldt. This community-based collective was co-founded by artist and community organizer Mo Harper-Desir alongside visionary Dionna Ndlovu, with support from the NAACP. Black Humboldt, an Ink People DreamMaker Project, has continued to play a major role in organizing the five annual Juneteenth festivities that have taken place since, working this year alongside the Eureka chapter of the NAACP and members of the Black community to program a diverse roster of cultural events taking place in Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata.

The theme of this year’s Juneteenth Cultural Festival is “Visions of a Liberated Future – celebrating freedom and unity in Humboldt County.” The series kicks off Wednesday, June 19, with a family party and a Juneteenth hip-hop show at RampART Skate Park in Arcata. It culminates Saturday, June 22, with a day party at Eureka’s Halvorsen Park featuring local Black and Brown artists, vendors, workshops, performances and informational “Knowledge for Power” sessions.

This year’s festival hosts a Hip Hop Zone, a Kids’ Zone and a “Black & Green Zone,” with free activities including a food sovereignty market, food starts and plants, recycled art projects, aquaculture sensory tables, a hands-on watershed model, a build- your-own-bouquet table, a how-to-recycle center, cultural storytelling and nature-inspired performances.

Festival programming also includes live music and open mic events, a visual arts exhibition, a Black community speakers series, a karaoke takeover, a Pride tribute, a family skate night and a Black Student Union barbecue. “Visions of a Liberated Future,” a Juneteenth-themed art exhibition conceived in rapport with the Festival, is on view through June at Los Bagels in Eureka.

“This holiday is very important and empowering for Black communities all over the United States, but especially for Humboldt County,” writes Black Humboldt on a website for the event. “This community makes up a very small percentage of the (county’s) population, and is often oppressed as a result. Black history is a part of the United States’ history and is important to celebrate, as we create safe spaces and inclusion for the Black community in Humboldt County. … This is a learning opportunity to highlight American history, as well as an opportunity to create a legacy for the Black and Brown community of the North Coast.”

Poster for this year’s festivities. Click to enlarge.

Several additional Juneteenth celebrations taking place in Arcata throughout the month complement festival offerings. HC Black Music and Art Association, an Ink People DreamMaker Project based in Arcata, works with young BIPOC people to develop Afrocentric, youth-focused cultural programming. Valletta Molofsky, the group’s founder and leader, said that the group would be celebrating Juneteenth in two summer youth programs taking place this summer in the group’s Harambee Cultural Center.

Robert Broadway, a Marine Corps veteran and martial arts specialist with a background in Chinese Kung Fu and Yang style Tai Chi, is offering a series of HCBMAA classes in Tai Chi Chuan and Choy Li Fut to celebrate Juneteenth. Classes emphasize self-defense, self-confidence, concentration, awareness and flexibility. HCBMAA will also be hosting the Harambee Youth Connections summer program, a two-week series of workshops for young people starting in July. This “Pan-African celebration of traditions and food” will feature a special guest, poet and performer Amde Hamilton of political poetry group the Watts Prophets. Young participants will be able to take classes in African cooking, bookmaking, art and beadwork, drum making, gardening, martial arts, video projects, dancing, and hip-hop dance.

Juneteenth also marks the initiation of a mural project being facilitated by Arcata public arts group REBOUND, a community-based arts and culture organization committed to using good design to realize projects that enhance community life. REBOUND, an Ink People DreamMaker Project, will be partnering with the City of Arcata, the Eureka chapter of the NAACP, the Arcata Rotary and the family of Josiah Lawson to facilitate the creation of a large-scale memorial and mural celebrating the life of David Josiah Lawson, a Black student leader at Cal Poly Humboldt whose 2017 murder by stabbing in Arcata remains unsolved.

The memorial, which will be located on the exterior of the D Street Community Center in Arcata, will incorporate a living wall planted in native vegetation, a collaborative mural painting based on a portrait of Lawson drawn by his aunt, and text rendered in a facsimile of Josiah Lawson’s own handwriting. Members of the public are invited to take part in this act of communal creation as a gesture of community healing and remembrance, in solidarity with the Lawson family and members of Humboldt’s Black community.

Drop-in painting sessions are scheduled to begin June 19, 2024 and will continue through June 27. “Participation from the public is encouraged! Professional muralists will be on site to assist members of the community during drop-in painting sessions,” said artist and educator Benjamin Funke of REBOUND. “All painting supplies and safety equipment will be provided.”

“The organizers of Juneteenth are incredible leaders, and I honor their leadership in bringing these celebrations of African American resilience to Humboldt County,” Leslie Castellano, executive director of the Ink People Center for Arts and Culture, said in response to a request for comment. “The entire North Coast region has benefited from the many ways leadership in the black community builds cultural power, celebrates black joy and furthers the long tradition of marching towards freedom.”

###

To learn more about the 2024 Juneteenth programming events featured here or to support them by making a donation, go to https://blackhumboldt.com , https://hcblackmusicnarts.org and https://www.r-e-b-o-u-n-d.net . To contact representatives of the organizations mentioned in this article, email blackhumboldt@gmail.com , info@hcblackmusicnarts.org and team.rebound.humboldt@gmail.com .

Gabrielle Gopinath is the grant writing and communications director for the Ink People Center for Arts and Culture.