Worcester To Raise Juneteenth Flag For 2021 Holiday

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester's annual Juneteenth celebration will get a boost this year with a flag raising outside City Hall.

Organizers of Worcester's Black Heritage Juneteenth Festival say the June 12 flag-raising will be a "moment in history" for the city.

The 2021 flag-raising will be part of a hybrid Worcester Juneteenth festival in 2021. Attendees will be able to watch dance, poetry and musical performances online, but will also get to attend some in-person activities.

The festival will coincide with the May opening of The Village, a Black cultural center at 4 King St., the longtime home of the Stone Soup center. There will be vendors open at The Village during the Juneteenth festival.

The Juneteenth holiday marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers told slaves located near Galveston, Texas, that they were free. That first Juneteenth came two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed some slaves, but left others in chains. Texas was the last state the Union Army reached, and so the 1865 declaration was seen as the real date slaves were freed, according to the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation.

The day is now recognized as a holiday or day of observance most states, but 2021 will be the first year it's an observed holiday in Massachusetts. Several state lawmakers, including state Rep. Maria Robinson (D-Framingham), filed legislation to recognize the holiday last summer.

Worcester's Juneteenth celebration will be held one week before the official June 19 holiday. The flag raising begins June 12 at 11:45 a.m. in front of City Hall, 455 Main St., and the Black Heritage festival will run noon to 4 p.m.