National Juneteenth Observance Foundation To Host Day-Long Holiday Celebration In Nation’s Capitol

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A two-day Juneteenth National Independence Day Celebration, hosted by the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, will be held June 18th and 19th in Washington D.C. Vice President Kamala Harris, NJOF President Steve Williams and the National Miss Juneteenth Damia Taylor will all make appearances.

The celebration begins on June 18, with the 25th Juneteenth National Prayer Breakfast at the National Press Club which is by invitation only.

Guests are Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), who chaired the National Juneteenth Congressional Committee, and several invited members of Congress. Also, NJOF Board members, President Steve Williams, Dr. Opal Lee, Vice Chair Deborah Evans, and Secretary Betty Sawyer of Utah will be present.

A Juneteenth healing ceremony at Lincoln Park and wreath laying at Moses African Cemetery will follow.

The next day on the official holiday, June 19, the Public People’s Juneteenth  begins with “the Bivouac on D.C.”  at 10:30 a.m. This is the official Juneteenth People’s Parade to the White House Ellipse.

United States Colored Troops (USCT) and Buffalo Soldier reenactors will lead the Juneteenth Parade from the Martin Luther King Memorial, east bound on Constitution to the White House Ellipse. Accompanied by groups from across the United States, they will be met by the 257th Army Band, also known as the President’s Band.

From noon to 7 p.m., the People’s Juneteenth will be showcased on the White House Ellipse, beginning with a raising of the official red, white and blue Juneteenth flag authorized by creator Ben Haith to protect and administer the usage. It will be accompanied by the Juneteenth Anthem, a creative blending of the National Anthem and Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black National Anthem.

A Juneteenth Anthem by spoken word artist Coffee Wright and the reading of the three Documents of Freedom – Emancipation Proclamation, General Order #3 and the 13th Amendment – will be highlighted prominently.

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At the halfway mark, there will be the premier performance of an original play, the Abolitionist Museum by Sheri Bailey,

The day’s events include readings of the Traditional Juneteenth Prayer, composed by NJOF founder Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr. M.D., and Dr. Charles Taylor, and the Requiem Prayer For The Innominate Slave by Robert Starling Prichard.

Also members of Congress and the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation will be recognized as part of the day’s program. Special recognition will go to Pvt. Wiliam Cosley, the first male freed from enslavement by Abraham Lincoln, 20 years before the presidency. Pvt. Cosley later entered the USCT and was present in Galveston on June 19, 1865.

“Juneteenth Remembrances” stories delivered by Eddie Carthan, former mayor of Tchula, Mississippi, and Dr. Charles Taylor will be intermingled with musical performances by a number of performers. They include jazz pianist Marcus Johnson; Atlanta musicians Brick; D.C. performers Malik Dope Drummer; TOS Band with the Honest Politix; American blues artist Bobby Rush; African Drummers; and Shofar. The show will take the audience home with a rousing funk Grand Finale by Funkativity: the Wave of Freedom Band featuring David and Damon Batiste and Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton.

D.C. Juneteenth activities were begun in 1999. President Steven Williams was handed the baton by Rev. Ron Myers and after Rev. Myers’ passing, President Williams successfully guided the foundation’s goal to the finish line gaining President Biden’s signature on the National Juneteenth Independence Day Holiday legislation in 2021, the first new holiday in 40 years.