Pittsburgh Juneteenth Celebration details announced

Planning for Pittsburgh’s Juneteenth Freedom Celebration Festival is in full swing.

Juneteenth — or Freedom Day — is a celebration of the emancipation of African Americans and commemorates June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to ensure the freedom of all enslaved people.

B. Marshall, CEO and founder of Stop of the Violence, which produces the events, is ensuring that the historical and celebratory aspects of the holiday are part of the festivities. His vision, which began 11 years ago, has paved the way for what is now set to be the largest Juneteenth Festival in Pennsylvania.

Details were announced at Pittsburgh City Council chambers on Friday.

In addition to the main celebration, prelude events start in May with the annual Black Tie Honors Gala fundraiser at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at Station Square on May 17. Honorees include Judge Dwayne Woodruff, AHN chief clinical diversity, equity and inclusion officer Dr. Margaret D. Larkins-Pettigrew, Homeless Children’s Education Fund CEO AJ Jefferson and Alliance for Police Accountability CEO Brandi Fisher.

The Juneteenth YouthFest runs June 8-9 at Mellon Park, sponsored by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s an honor to serve as a partner. Timely and important issues that affect the community with multicultural dimensions … while we still have work to do, I am very proud of our progress,’” Lashana Stokes of UPMC said.

The festival will kick off at Point State Park on June 14 and run through June 16. More than 200 vendors will be in the minority small-business plaza in Market Square.

“Everything we do is based on Black history in the city of Pittsburgh,” Marshall said. “That’s our North Star, that is the thing that guides us. We created our Soul Food Festival based on the fact that Black entrepreneurs started selling food in downtown Pittsburgh in 1788.”

The Jubilee Parade, scheduled for June 15, will take place along Liberty Avenue. It has a historical tie to the Jubilee Freedom Parade, which initially celebrated the freedom and voting rights of Black Americans. Organized by Bethel A.M.E. Church, the initial parade took place on April 26, 1870. Tuskegee Airman Col. James H. Harvey and Percy Miller, also known as rap artist Master P, will serve as the parade’s grand marshals.

The second day will also include an economic summit with speakers and hip-hop artist Dame Dash.

Juneteenth Freedom Day, Soul Food Festival and Black Music Festival in 2023 brought in a combined total of more than $7 million, according to Derek Dawson, senior director of strategic initiatives at VisitPittsburgh.

“I’m honored to stand with a man with a vision, to support a positive vision, in a time when some people would like to send us to the plantations. We don’t want to forget where we came from, but we want to talk about where we want to go as Black men who grew up on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District,” said Tim Stevens, chairman at the Black Political Empowerment Project. “Some of my proudest moments as a Black man in Pittsburgh came about because of B. Marshall’s festivals.”

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