The Community Celebrates Juneteenth in Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. — The sound of fun filled a block for the 49th annual Juneteenth celebration in Duluth Sunday.

Juneteenth is a day for remembrance, education and celebration of the day June 19th back in 1863 when over 250,000 slaves became free.

Sunday was the day to honor historical event for African Americans as hundreds of people gathered to celebrate.

The event was hosted by the Duluth National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose mission is for equality and to eliminate racial discrimination.

The party had fun for kids, free food, and over 50 vendors from local businesses.

“This is not just today, this a freedom thing that we are fighting every single day and this is one of the days we get to celebrate a huge victory in our community,” said Classie Dudley, Duluth NAACP President. “The way we celebrate it is super important, because it is history, it’s engrained in society, and the NAACP, this is a good way to promote something good that happened in the community, but it’s also something to say, hey, get involved because we’re still fighting this good fight.”

Today’s celebration also landed on Father’s Day and there was plenty of love to go around for Dads.

“Happy Father’s day, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it weren’t for my dad, so as well as its Juneteenth, we also wanted to uplift our black dads and our families here,” said Dudley.

Juneteenth in Duluth is community focused, and local and black owned businesses got to show off their products today.

Over its 49 year history, Duluth’s Juneteenth celebration has inspired other communities to join in on honoring black history.