MOSCOW — Community members from Moscow, Pullman, and across the Palouse are invited to a free afternoon of celebration, education, and community-building in honor of Juneteenth from noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19th, in Friendship Square in downtown Moscow.
Community member James Bledsoe will give the opening remarks. Other activities include free soul food, children’s activities, t-shirt making, music, and a drum circle.
The event is free, but gifts are accepted to support the University of Idaho Black/African American Cultural Center and Washington State University African American Student Center.
Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. A federal holiday since 2021, it marks the date on which enslaved people in Texas received word of emancipation, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Sponsors for Juneteenth events include the Latah County Human Rights Task Force, the Moscow Human Rights Commission, the U of I Black and African American Cultural Center, the U of I Black Studies Program, the WSU African American Student Center, the WSU Black Faculty and Staff Association, and the WSU College of Arts and Sciences