INDIANAPOLIS — The Children's Museum of Indianapolis kicked off the celebration of Juneteenth in Indianapolis on Saturday, June 3.
The world's largest children's museum hosted its annual Juneteenth Jamboree from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering free admission to those who registered in advance.
"The museum has been celebrating this important and historic holiday since 1990," said Jennifer Pace Robinson, president and CEO of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
Saturday's festivities included:
- Live performances by the Major Taylor Band and the Griot Drum Ensemble
- Juneteenth Story Time with Portia Jackson
- Creating art alongside local artists Amiah Mims, Wavy Blayne, Kyng Rhodes and Eupheme Fleming
- Juneteenth Trivia
New in 2023, visitors had the opportunity to meet and interact with Miss Indy Juneteenth and create their own Sashes of Affirmations. Dresses worn by the past two Miss Indy Juneteenth winners were also on display.
The museum will host the Indy Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant on Saturday, June 3 from 6-9 p.m.
Click here for more Juneteenth-themed events going on in Indianapolis.
Juneteenth originated in Galveston, Texas, after the end of the Civil War.
Through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, enslaved people in the Confederate states were declared legally free.
But the proclamation couldn't be enforced in places still under Confederate control. For the enslaved people of Texas, freedom wouldn't come until after the end of the Civil War.
On June 19, 1865, Union Major Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston Bay, announcing that the quarter million enslaved Black people in Texas were free by executive decree.
The United States celebrated its first federally-recognized Juneteenth in 2021 after President Joe Biden signed a bill creating Juneteenth National Independence Day.
Recognition of the holiday gained traction in 2020 amid nationwide protests over police killings of Black Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
While signing the bill establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, Biden called Juneteenth "a day of profound weight and profound power, a day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take."