The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is turning Freedom Way in Cincinnati into a street festival in celebration of freedom on June 19. The Freedom Center’s inaugural Juneteenth Jubilee, presented by Gallagher, will feature live music, food trucks, a market of community vendors and motivational speech and autograph session with featured partner Orlando Brown, Jr. of the Cincinnati Bengals.
The event is free, as is museum admission to the Freedom Center, on June 19.
True to the spirit of the earliest Juneteenth celebrations, the Freedom Center’s Juneteenth Jubilee brings people together around music, food and community. The stage on the Freedom Center plaza will feature the following lineup:
• Noon to 2 p.m. P. Ann Everson-Price, including selections from her interactive performance, From Jazz to Motown
• 2 p.m. Motivational speech by Orlando Brown, Jr. of the Cincinnati Bengals
• 2:15-4 p.m. DJ Vader Mixx
• 4-6 p.m. 2nd Wind Band
• 6 p.m. Mike Wade & The Nasty Nati Brass Band
Orlando Brown, Jr. will also be hosting a photo session from 2:15 to 3 p.m. and an autograph session from 4 to 4:45 p.m. on the Freedom Center plaza.
Bookending Freedom Way will be food trucks Sweets & Meats BBQ, Texas Joe Tex Mex, Beverly Ann’s Cookies and Indigenous Chef. And in between will be 15 minority- and women-owned businesses as part of the Community Market.
Attendees can also enjoy meeting Cincinnati Reds mascots and an opportunity to win prizes from Cincinnati Reds, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and select Community Market vendors.
Museum admission is also free on Juneteenth, courtesy of the Fifth Third Foundation. Guests can enjoy 15-minute histories of Juneteenth and drop-in family activities throughout the day. Importantly, the Freedom Center will be focusing on the continuing legacy of Juneteenth and the ongoing journey to freedom for many.
“June 19, 1865, was a pivotal day in our nation’s history, but for African Americans in this country, it was still just the first step in a long, winding road to freedom,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “The journey to freedom continues for so many, so it’s important that we remember how many people are still waiting for their Juneteenth. June 19 must be a day that we recommit ourselves to the pursuit of inclusive freedom.”
Community organizations and advocates supporting health equity, economic empowerment and voter education and engagement will have information tables available insider the museum. Participating organizations include Cincinnati Parent Empowerment Network, Community Engagement Collective, Greater Cincinnati Voter Collaborative, Humana Healthy Horizons of Ohio, League of Women Voters of Cincinnati Area, Opportunities Peoples Justice Leaders, Warsaw Federal Savings and Loan Association and Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
Health equity is also a passion for Orlando Brown, Jr., a Super Bowl champion on the field and an advocate for equity off the field. He is involved in efforts to raise awareness and funds to support type 1 diabetes research in honor of those impacted, including his late father, his younger brother and his friends and fellow NFL players Mark Andrews and Noah Gray.
On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved people of the nation were now free. The date, now celebrated as Juneteenth, came more than two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and nearly 250 years after the first enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas. In 2021, President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center