North Shore communities will commemorate Juneteenth next week with flag raisings and celebrations.
Swampscott, Marblehead, Peabody, Beverly, Lynn, Hamilton and Wenham kicked off the holiday this week with flag raisings at their city and town halls.
Held each June 19, the federal holiday commemorates the official end to slavery in the United States, when on June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Tex., to inform more than 250,000 enslaved people of their freedom — two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The red, white and blue Juneteenth flag will be raised June 17 in Danvers. Starting at 2 p.m. outside of Town Hall, Danvers will host its fourth annual Juneteenth celebration featuring singing, poetry and an address by Northshore Juneteenth Association founder Nicole McClain. The event will be followed by a dialogue and viewing of a documentary about Race Amity Day at the Gordon room of the Peabody Institute Library.
The flag will be raised in Salem’s Riley Plaza at noon June 18 during the city’s Juneteenth Jam, which runs from noon-5 p.m. that day.
Community members can take part in a public reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, “The Meaning Of The Fourth Of July For The Negro,” led by McClain.
Games, activities, crafts, face painting, music and food from Ray Adea’s will be available following the flag raising. Salem Historical Tours will give a free Black history walking tour of Salem starting at 2 p.m. from Riley Plaza.
The tour is expected to last 90 minutes. Participants can sign up on a first-come, first-serve basis the day of the event.
At 8:30 p.m., the Salem Common Neighborhood Association will host a free screening of Disney’s 2018 hit “Black Panther” at the Common.
Salem received a grant from Mass Humanities to expand its annual Juneteenth flag raising into this year’s event, in collaboration with the North Shore Juneteenth Association, the city said in a statement.
“Thanks to the work from members of the mayor’s office staff along with the consultation of North Shore Juneteenth, this year’s ceremony will be thoughtful, fun, and allow our community to come together to celebrate,” Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said in the statement.
In Beverly, The Cabot will host a free screening of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s new film, “Origin,” at 7 p.m. on June 18. A community conversation about the film will be hosted at The Cabot the next day at 7 p.m.
The event is sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Beverly. Visit https://tinyurl.com/cabotorigin to register.
Then, on Friday, June 21, Doreen Wade of Salem United Inc. and McClain will launch their inaugural racial communication forum, “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Modern Day Feelings of Racism and Inequity.” The public discussion will start at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the National Parks Service, Salem Armory Visitor Center, 2 New Liberty St. in Salem.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.
