Even reenactors in heavy period uniforms took to the streets for the flag raising at Dillaway-Thomas House in Eliot Square and the parade that followed, ending at the National Center for Afro-American Artists on Walnut Street for a Juneteenth Emancipation Observance Program.
“We couldn’t not be here. It’s really important that people appreciate what happened on Juneteenth,” Dane Elliott-Lewis — a member of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment Company A, a Civil War reenactment group — told The Boston Globe. “It’s really important that people appreciate what happened on Juneteenth.”
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Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, found out they had been freed — after the end of the Civil War, and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was designated a federal holiday in 2021.
Below, images from Wednesday’s festivities in Roxbury.
It was a challenging day to hold a Juneteenth Celebration and Parade, but reenactors were undeterred. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff George Brown, a reenactor with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, takes a swig of water from his canteen in the shade during Wednesday’s celebration. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Emmett Bell-Sykes, a reenactor with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, takes part in a flag raising at the Dillaway-Thomas House in Eliot Square. – John Tlumacki / Globe StaffJohzias Figueroa, 4, lies down in the shade on a sidewalk as he waits for the start of the Juneteenth parade in Roxbury. – John Tlumacki / Globe StaffThe Juneteenth parade heads out of Elliot Square in the heat Wednesday. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Charlotte Morton, 3, puts the hat back on her dad Alvin’s head in Eliot Square Wednesday. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Euronna Taylor wears a Juneteenth flag in her hair as she watches the opening ceremony for Wednesday’s Juneteenth parade at the Dillaway-Thomas House in Eliot Square. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Tanya Boyd wipes the sweat from her face at the start of Wednesday’s sweltering Juneteenth parade in Roxbury. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Liliana Monteiro, 10, wears a wet towel on her head to beat the heat during Wednesday’s parade. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Oulimata Diarra, 5, and her friend Jacquami Pierre, 5, take shelter from the hot sun under an umbrella as they wait for the Juneteenth parade to start. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff Ziya Pye, 9, stands up through a sunroof during the Juneteenth Celebration and Parade in Roxbury. – John Tlumacki / Globe Staff
Note: Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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