Juneteenth, Monday June 19
June 18, 2023
The library will be closed for Juneteenth Day of Observance. Here are some ways you can observe with your family...
Black Heritage Trail
Black Heritage Trail NH's week-long celebration, Reading the Bones: Celebrating the African Diaspora, includes a free African Drumming event at the Portsmouth African Burying Ground!
Classics Book Club
At Classics Book Club on Tuesday July 11 at 7 PM, we'll discuss Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin. Join us!
Resources Guide
Check out our guide, Racism in America: Resources for Learning, Discussion and Celebrating Black Voices, on the library's website.
What is Juneteenth?
From this year's presidential proclamation:
On June 19, 1865 — months after the Civil War ended and more than 2 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people — Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to free 250,000 people still held in bondage. The arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his troops signaled that the Federal Government would not relent until the last enslaved people in America were free.
On Juneteenth, we commemorate that day and honor the tireless work of abolitionists who made it their mission to deliver the promise of America for all Americans.
