Moscow Juneteenth Celebration

The Moscow Human Rights Commission invites the community to celebrate Juneteenth from noon to 4 p.m. on Monday, June 19, in Friendship Square.

This celebration of freedom commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. A federal holiday since 2021, Juneteenth marks the date on which enslaved people in Texas received word of emancipation, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The event will feature vendors, live music, children’s activities, food trucks and more. Speakers will include Dr. Marlene Gaynair, an assistant professor of history at Washington State University, and Dr. Scott Finnie, a professor of African studies and history at Eastern Washington University.

A free showing of “The Watermelon Woman” will follow the celebration at 7 p.m. at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre. The 1996 comedy was written, directed, and edited by Cheryl Dunye, and stars Dunye as a young black lesbian who probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played “mammy” archetypes.

Sponsors for Juneteenth events include the University of Idaho Black and African American Cultural Center, the Washington State University Office for Social Justice Education and Outreach, the U of I Certificate in Equity and Justice, the Moscow Co-op, the U of I LGBTQA Office, the Palouse Council on Racial Equity, the WSU Division of Student Affairs and the U of I Africana Studies Program.