Juneteenth, the oldest nationally recognized commemoration of the end of slavery in the United

Juneteenth, the oldest nationally recognized commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, will be observed and celebrated in Hayward this week, culminating on Saturday, June 20, with the annual Juneteenth Freedom Celebration at a new location at Mt. Eden High School.

The annual festival will take place on the Mt. Eden High School campus at 2300 Panama Street in Hayward from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a Juneteenth history reading, live music, DJs, vendors, activities for children and more. For the line-up: visithttps://www.instagram.com/juneteenthhayward/.

At Hayward City Hall, the City Council will issue a special proclamation at its meetings starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16. A ceremonial raising of the Juneteenth and Pan African flags will take place at noon Thursday, June 18, on City Hall Plaza. And city government offices will be closed on Friday, June 19, in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday.

Celebrated each year on June 19, Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, commemorates the effective end of slavery in the United States. On that day in 1865, almost two and half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Union Army Major Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of both the Civil War and slavery to more than 250,000 enslaved Black people, one of the last groups of slaves to be freed in the United States.

While Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday in 2021, it has been celebrated in African American communities for more than 150 years.