A coalition of Glendale Black-owned businesses will kick off Juneteenth festivities in what is believed to be the city’s inaugural celebration for what has come over the generations to be known as the oldest African American holiday.
Historic Downtown Glendale — specifically Murphy Park, 5812 W. Glendale Ave. — will be the site for the all-day celebration on Saturday, June 11. The event starts at 8 a.m. and continues through 9 p.m.
Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of enslaved people in the United States at the end of the Civil War. For more than 150 years, African American communities across the country have observed this holiday in a blend of two words — “June” and “nineteenth” — with its origins dating back to 1865.
