Pontiac — Oakland County braved clouds and rain Wednesday — and metaphorical political clouds — to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that recognizes the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.
Hundreds of people attended the celebration at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac despite intermittent rain. The Pontiac United Youth Choir sang “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by James Weldon Johnson, often considered the “Black national anthem.”
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform Black people of the end of the Civil War, freeing the last remaining enslaved Black people. It took more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1865 for the news to reach all of the United States.
Events are planned across Metro Detroit for the holiday, which falls on Thursday. It comes amid a changed political climate that includes mandates from the Trump administration to eliminate diversity and equity efforts.
The federal government recognized Juneteenth as a national holiday in 2021. Oakland County separately adopted Juneteenth as a holiday the same year.
Rosemerry Allen, an Oakland County resident, said she’s proud of the county’s commitment to Juneteenth.
“It’s important that America, not just brown and Black people, remember the importance of the emancipation of slavery completely in this country,” she said.
Addressing the crowd at Wednesday’s event, Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter said despite loving history, he never learned about Juneteenth growing up. He said he was pleased to see young people in the crowd, telling them they have to carry on the work toward a “fair and equitable system for all.”
“I’m happy to make sure that everyone in Oakland County understands the history that they may not have learned in school,” he said. “Now you can’t say, ‘I don’t know’ anymore, because we need you. We need you to do this work because the work continues.”
The county raised the official Juneteenth flag during the ceremony, which features a red and blue background with a white starburst in the middle. Harry Weaver, Oakland County’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, explained the flag has the same colors of the American flag because Juneteenth is a uniquely American holiday.
“We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Juneteenth is American history; it’s Black history, it’s African American history,” Weaver said. “It’s American history.”
Vilisa Hamilton, who works for the county, said it’s important to educate people about why Juneteenth is celebrated. It’s a meaningful holiday for her personally because she wants people to understand what it’s like to be Black in America.
“It definitely means a lot. I am proud of my heritage, and I do want to let people know that it is hard being an African American. We do seem to be under attack a lot. But I know a lot of people feel under attack. A lot of Jewish people are feeling under attack; LGBT (people) are feeling under attack.”
The Juneteenth holiday comes in a much different political climate than when it was designated as a federal holiday in 2021. President Donald Trump, who has called diversity, equity and inclusion programs “radical and wasteful,” signed two executive orders in January targeting DEI: One directed federal agencies to eliminate their own DEI activities and end “equity-related” grants or contracts. The other required any companies and institutions with government contracts or grant funds to demonstrate that they don’t operate DEI programs.
This year’s fraught political climate was not lost on attendees of Wednesday’s celebration.
“I’m so glad that this actually became a holiday, because if it wasn’t nationally recognized now, I’m sure this probably wouldn’t even be going on,” said Hamilton, in reference to the celebration.
Coulter told The Detroit News that Oakland County faced some pushback when designating Juneteenth as its own holiday a few years ago. Since then, the opposition has gotten more fierce, he said.
He had a message for people who oppose celebrating Juneteenth: Learn what the holiday actually means, he said, to understand that it’s about consciously recognizing historical barriers that exist for some people.
“We know that there are historical barriers for some people, so we’re just trying to be conscious of those barriers, and it starts with education,” Coulter told The News. “So I say educate yourselves, just like I had to be educated on what Juneteenth was.”
jcardi@detroitnews.com
Juneteenth events in Metro Detroit
- Juneteenth at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 315 E. Warren Avenue. There will be performances, art, a treasure hunt for kids, an afterglow celebration and more. Activities run throughout the day. Go to thewright.org/events/juneteenth-2025.
- “Celebrate Juneteenth: Liberation and Legacy” will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Greenfield Village in Dearborn. There will be performances, food and more. At Detroit Central Market, more than 25 Black-owned vendors and nonprofits will be selling a range of artisan foods, crafts, books and more. Go to THF.org/juneteenth.
- The DSO will perform the second of two concerts sponsored by the DTE Foundation from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at Greater Grace Temple. Free admission. Visit https://www.dso.org/events-and-tickets/events/24-25-spring/dte-foundation-community-concerts-2.
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