“John Edgar Wideman

Honoring Black joy and freedom struggles in the Rust Belt Juneteenth, celebrated each year on June 19, commemorates when enslaved Black people in Texas were notified that they were in fact free—two years after the Emancipation Proclamation marked what should have been the end of their bondage. Though it has recently garnered mainstream recognition, for generations, Black communities across the country have celebrated Juneteenth in their own unique ways.