As the Juneteenth national holiday approaches, San Antonio is gearing up with a variety of events.
In advance of the June 19 holiday recognizing the end of legalized slavery in Texas, Saturday is the big day of celebration, with a parade, festival and a special community project of the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum (SAAACAM).
If you have a Juneteenth event you’d like to have included, please send information to hello@sareport.org.
Celebration Saturday
Saturday kicks off at 10 a.m. with a Juneteenth Parade starting at Sam Houston High School and ending at Comanche Park No. 2, sponsored by the Juneteenth Freedom Coalition of San Antonio.
This year’s parade marshall is Doloris Blair-Williams, an honored educator and musician for Antioch Baptist Church familiarly known as “Mama Dee.”
Then from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the park, the San Antonio Juneteenth Commission holds its annual Juneteenth Festival featuring music by Heatwave and the 12 Eleven Band.
The festival includes a health fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with blood pressure screenings, glucose checks, immunizations, kidney function checks and more.
Also on Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., SAAACAM hosts its Community Curation Exploration Project with the help of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The goal is to create a digital archive to support the preservation and sharing of the community’s history and culture.
Dreaming big
The Dream Big Scholarship Fund holds its 4th annual Juneteenth Block Party and Fair from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday in Crockett Park, with the ambitious goal of doubling last year’s attendance of 2,500.
The event is free but tickets must be reserved in advance.
Buy Black
The Juneteenth Buy Black Market, Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the MAAT Bookstore on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, supports Black-owned businesses and vendors with an African drum circle, Sankofa storytellers and a Juneteenth educational presentation and discussion.
Copies of Who is the Greatest African? by local author Baba Aundar Maat will be available.
Tickets for the event are free with registration.
At the Tobin
On June 18, the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts hosts Freedom! A Juneteenth Celebration, a choral event presented as a partnership between Bexar County, the Tobin Center and SAAACAM.
Amid its CMI 210 Festival, the Classical Music Institute and the San Antonio Gospel Heritage Choir will join to present Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a multi-movement choral work by Atlanta-based composer Joel Thompson honoring Black lives lost to police brutality, followed by Richard Smallwood’s gospel classic Total Praise.
For $30, a ticketed supper option is available with food by the Tobin’s executive chef Armando Lopez and guest chef Mona Wilson. Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are $10.
The Alamo
Bright and early on June 19 at the Alamo, the hourlong PBS documentary film Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom will be screened in the Long Barrack.
The unscripted documentary traces the Juneteenth story through the eyes of a Black man learning about the holiday from the direct descendants of those liberated.
The film starts at 9 a.m., followed by a virtual Q&A session with director Rasool Berry. The event is free and open to the public.
Black history tour
On June 22, Melaneyes Media presents a special Juneteenth-themed Black History Bus Tour.
Explore 15 Black History landmarks throughout the East Side of the city, including the Carver Cultural Community Center (formerly the Colored Branch Library), Phillis Wheatley High School, Ellis Alley and the Ella Austin Orphanage.
General admission tickets must be purchased in advance, available for $30.
Black Pride
Pride Month and Juneteenth join together for a Juneteenth Black Pride Show at 800LIVE Nightclub on June 22.
The event starts at 6 p.m. with local vendors, with a lively show beginning at 9 p.m. hosted by Amunique Andrews and Danielle Whitney with special guest Monica Monae Davenport.
Tickets are available for $10.
