Celebrate Juneteenth 2024

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States and is a City of Bellingham holiday as well as a state and federal holiday. The City will honor and celebrate Juneteenth with a flag-raising ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 17, at the Bellingham City Hall flag plaza. The official City holiday commemorating Juneteenth is Wednesday, June 19, 2024.

In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. However, news that slavery was abolished did not reach the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas, until more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. It was on June 19, 1865, that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

We commemorate June 19 — Juneteenth — as the day slaves were truly set free. Juneteenth celebrations are a platform for encouraging the acceptance of diversity and offer an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the sacrifices and challenges enslaved Africans endured to achieve freedom. We celebrate our African-American community members and commit to working together toward equity for all.

Resources for celebrating and learning

2024 highlighted events

  • June 17: Juneteenth flag raising at Bellingham City Hall, 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 17.
  • Other events: Many other local organizations and businesses are honoring and celebrating Juneteenth 2024. A listing of events can be found on the community Juneteenth webpage hosted by Western Washington University.

Websites and articles

Films and documentaries

  • I Am the Hope and the Dream: Juneteenth video project of Connect Ferndale (also embedded below)
  • PBS Series: Juneteenth Jamboree, which “illuminates the significance of the Juneteenth holiday and shares stories about black culture and history.”
  • 13th: Thought-provoking documentary where scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. 
  • Just Mercy: Film based on the life work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson that focuses on the systematic racism in our society.
  • When They See Us: Based on the true story about the Central Park five teens who were falsely accused of a brutal attack that made nationwide headlines. 

I Am the Hope and the Dream: The Juneteenth Video Project