How to celebrate Juneteenth history, events in Lexington this week

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

Lexington has several days of events planned for Juneteenth to bring to light the city’s history of Black American liberation and commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

The city’s oldest Juneteenth celebrations began 20 years ago, and events will reflect part of Lexington’s 250-year heritage. In 2021, Juneteenth was recognized as an official national holiday and honors the day all enslaved in the United States were legally freed.

On June 19, 1865, about two months after Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, Union forces rode into Galveston, Texas to tell enslaved African Americans the Civil War had ended and they were free.

The news came nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued by President Abraham Lincoln.

Starting in the 1800s, June 19th was celebrated byBlack Americans as Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth. Early celebrations usually involved family gatherings and prayers, as well as pilgrimages to Galveston by formerly enslaved people and their families.

In 1872, a group of Black ministers and businessmen in Houston bought land to establish Emancipation Park, as a place to hold the city’s annual Juneteenth celebration. The tradition grew and some cities began holding larger events with parades and festivals.

Texas became the first state to recognize the holiday in 1980, and other states soon followed. All 50 states and the District of Columbia all recognize the holiday in some form. However, as protests erupted across the country in 2020 to protest police brutality, many pushed for federal recognition.

Congress moved to push the legislation through and in 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. While many celebrations were muted in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cities have ramped up their celebrations in the recent past.

Lexington’s celebration is no different, Mayor Linda Gorton said.

“Our Juneteenth celebrations in 2025 will be bigger and better than ever,” Gorton said. “There’s something for everyone.”

Celebrations started on June 14, and activities will continue through June 21. The celebration on June 14, at African Cemetery No. 2,was the city’s original Juneteenth celebration and honors the Civil War soldiers who fought for freedom.

“Over in African Cemetery No. 2, we’ve been doing it since 2005,” Yvonne Giles, Lexington’s African American historian, said.

That event also gave the history of the Juneteenth Flag, designed by Ben Haith, the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, in 1997.

“He chose the red, white and blue colors because he knew that enslaved African Americans had been born in the United States,” Giles said. “We were Americans too. We had a part in history. And he chose these colors to connect us to America.”

Juneteenth flags will be displayed on Main Street in downtown and banners celebrating Juneteenth will be placed along the Legacy Trail from Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden to the North Lexington YMCA, officials said.

At 11 a.m. on June 19 “A Sense of Place” honoring Lexington’s historic Black hamlets will take place at 705 Caden Lane. Organizers said the day will be filled with live music, cultural performances, food and storytelling that focuses on the community’s history. Officials will also hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Cadentown Rosenwald School since its renovation.

Later, at 4 p.m., Christian Adair, the executive director and founder of Apha League, will speak at “We Still Dance: A Juneteenth Celebration of Rhythm, Resilience, and the American Spirit” at the Lyric Theater and Cultural Arts Center. The event inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem, “And Still I Rise,” honors the spirit of the American people, organizers said.

Also on June 19, the Freedom Train organization will be unveiling a monument celebrating abolitionists Lewis and Harriet Hayden and their escape from slavery in Lexington on the Underground Railroad. The statue, titled “Towards Home” by sculptor Basil Watson, will be unveiled on Thursday at 11 a.m. at 350 North Limestone, in front of the Lexington Traditional Magnet School.

From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on June 21, the Kentucky U.S. Freedmen Coalition will celebrate Black American liberation.

Also on the June 21, from 2 to 9 p.m. at Moondance Amphitheater, Soulteenth Fest will celebrate black liberation in music, art, agriculture and food.

Martina Barksdale, director of communications at VisitLex and the co-founder of SoulFeast Week, said the event will feature black-owned businesses in the area.

“Going into year five, we as an organization have given over $300,000 to black businesses and supported that economic impact,” she said. “That really is a testament to the economic power of our amazing community.”

The Juneteenth celebrations are about all of us now and all of us in the future, she said.

“As we are gathering to celebrate freedom and Juneteenth, I want everybody to remember a fundamental truth — none of us are truly free until all of us are free, and I hope we continue to use our resources, our privilege and our voices to support one another,” she said.

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.

This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 10:06 AM.