Flag Hoisting, Community Celebration: Juneteenth In Princeton

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton will commemorate Juneteenth on Wednesday with the annual flag-raising ceremony at Monument Hall, starting at 1 p.m.

The celebration continues at the Princeton Festival's Juneteenth community event and concert from 4 to 8:30 p.m. at the Morven Museum and Garden.

Attendees can find Juneteenth resources, history, crafts, food, and fun as The Princeton Festival commemorates the holiday with community partners.

Stop by the "Let Freedom Ring Booth" to participate in a Juneteenth interactive oral history project, and stay for the concert celebrating the rich history of black choral music in America.

Morven will be open to the public for free admission during the celebration.
The event is presented in partnership with the Municipality of Princeton, and features community partners.

The Wednesday, June 19, federal holiday commemorates the day in 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, when word finally reached the last enslaved people in Texas that the Civil War had ended, and they were free.

Also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is the oldest-known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making it a federal holiday, the first since the addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.