Amherst Will Celebrate Juneteenth With A Full Weekend Of Events (Updated With New Alternate Rainy Day Locations)
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Editor’s note: because of the uncertain weather, readers are advised to check the town website for last minute changes in venue. In case of rain, some events might be moved indoors.
Amherst will celebrate Juneteenth with a full slate of activities beginning on Saturday June 17, and extending through Monday, June 19, the official day of the Juneteenth federal holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the date in 1865 when, two months after the Civil War ended, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of the war and of slavery in the United States. Although Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021, Amherst has officially celebrated it since 2010. The celebration was held virtually in 2020 due to COVID-19, but returned to an in-person program at the Mill District in 2021. (Look here and here for additional background on the holiday.)
Last year’s celebration included a history walk through Amherst to sites of significance to African-American residents. A new history walk will take place this year on June 17. This year’s history walk, billed as the Third Annual Juneteenth Legacy Celebration, is organized by Ancestral Bridges. Due to the rain forecast on Saturday, events have been moved to indoor venues. The day begins at 10 a.m. with a commemorative event featuring Civil War re-enactors and music by the Amherst Area Gospel Choir at the Amherst Women’s Club. There will be free homestead tours of the Emily Dickinson Museum between 1 and 2 p.m. Pre-registration is required. Programming continues at The Drake, where the Amherst Business Improvement District (BID) and The Jones Library Summer Reading Series will present a family-friendly children’s performance by Grammy- nominated Divinity Roxx, who is well-known as an opening act for Beyoncé and for her 2021 album “Ready, Set, Go!” The day ends with a talk by Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker at Hope Church at 3 p.m. All are welcome to attend this free community event. Special transport bus will pick up passengers at the Amherst Regional High School at 9:30 a.m.
On June 18, Amherst Cinema will present a free screening of the film “Fences” at 4 p.m. with a community discussion on Black fatherhood afterward. Tickets are required and may be obtained at the cinema box office on a first-come-first served basis. The film, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (who won an Oscar for her performance), is adapted from the August Wilson play of the same title. The panel discussion, “The Journey, Joy & Love of Black Fatherhood”, will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the cinema. Panelists and local fathers Stefan Bradley, Sid Ferreira, Nigel Greaves, and Paul Wiley will offer their perspectives on the film and make connections to their own journeys in fatherhood in the time of #BlackGirlMagic, #BlackBoyJoy and #BlackLivesMatter.
June 19, the actual holiday, will begin with a free brunch at the Local Art Gallery in the Mill District, 10:30 a.m. to Noon. Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker will read from her first book, “I Did Not Ask to Be Born Black. I Just Got Lucky”. The companion book for Black boys is “I Did Not Ask to Be Born Black. I’m Just a Luckee Boy!” Both books are available for purchase while supplies last, and all proceeds from sales support the Shirley Jackson Whitaker Foundation, Inc.
That will be followed by the town-sponsored Juneteenth Jubilee on the Town Common and then a Jamboree sponsored by the Black Business Association of Amherst and Sankofa Gumbo at Mill River Recreation Area. The third annual Juneteenth Jubilee will be held on the Town Common from Noon to 6 p.m. on Monday, June 19. The event will feature local crafts and vendors and a self-guided tour, “Amherst and the Black Community.” There will also be musical performances by the Amherst Area Gospel Choir, Tap Roots, Amy Salmon, ReBelle, and Tem Blessed.
The last event of the day will be a Jamboree at the Mill River Recreation Area, 95 Montague Road, from 4 p.m.to 8 p.m. This event is presented by the Black Business Association of Amherst Area and Sankofa Gumbo. This free community event features food, art, music and live entertainment.
In observance of Juneteenth, Town offices will be closed on Monday, and there will be no town meetings.
The 2022 Juneteenth Heritage Walking Tour was an Ancestral Bridges (ABF) event, the woman on the poster is my great grandmother. It was my pleasure to curate this descendant led tour and event that also served as the official launch of ABF. This year, we move forward with the 3rd Annual Juneteenth Legacy Celebration: Celebrating the legacy that makes Amherst an important place in the history of Juneteenth. The picture on this poster is of my family at the inauguration of the Hope Church. Amherst residents who built and founded both Hope and Goodwin Church. In 2021 we partnered with the Mill District, and Town of Amherst to celebrate Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday. The nucleus for that event was the Civil War Tablets coming out of storage, that poster was designed by my cousin Roddy Bridges in honor of his uncle and my grandfather Dudley Bridges. I’m used hearing about more Juneteenth celebrations going on than you can count, but I understand 4 or 5 os a lot for Amherst, especially with all the pivots around challenging forecasts to keep up with.
This transition indoors was surprisingly smooth considering it happened yesterday. Safety became an issue for the walking tour but it was important to me to represent the spaces and unveil the street signs for the district my grandfather Dudley Bridges brought forward for national historic recognition in 2000 on what would have been his 100th birthday!
Enjoy the Juneteenth weekend and I hope to see you at the Women’s Club and on if the weather isn’t too much of a hindrance!