CLEVELAND — It’s a long-standing celebration that many feel is only recently being properly recognized.

“It’s good to have that external validation. But for Black communities, this holiday has been important for years, and it's been a part of our legacy and what we teach our children,” said Aseelah Shareef, Director of Operations and Community Engagement at Karamu House in Cleveland, the country’s oldest Black producing theatre. 

Juneteenth is a shortened way to say June 19. It’s a day that marks the oldest commemoration of the end of slavery. 

“June 19, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas were notified that they were free, that slavery was over,” said Shareef.

Cities across America are hosting celebrations, some for the first time ever. In Cleveland, companies and organizations like MetroHealth, Karamu House, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Ingenuity Cleveland and more are coming together to educate and celebrate with their community. 

“Even in those terrible, deplorable conditions, enslaved Africans still found reasons to celebrate, they still found things to be happy about, they still found ways to celebrate each other and community,” said Shareef. “And so we honor that legacy. When we also find space to celebrate.”

Karamu House was founded on the principle of fighting for social justice. The organization lives by three pillars: educate, celebrate and activate. 

“We want people to come experience the joy, have a good time, we want you to take something away,” said Shareef. “So we want to educate you on why we are even here, you know, what are the things that we're doing? What are the things you can continue to do in your community, and then we want activation. So we want people to walk away feeling like this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to take this step moving forward to continue to uplift and commemorate this holiday.”

On Saturday, June 19 on Mall C in the heart of downtown Cleveland, people may expect a full day of activities. 

“Fireworks, food trucks, Grammy Award-winning performances, lots of information, lots of information to take away from other vendors that are going to be present. So a full day of activities for the whole family,” said Shareef.All to help people learn from history, to move forward and continue working toward a better future. 

“The work is still important, we still don't have equity. We still don't have equal rights under the law,” said Shareef. “So we've got to continue to remember the struggle of the ancestors, we've got to remember what, what took place in this country.

“We continue to be in this fight for racial equity, and this celebration gives us an opportunity to kind of stop and acknowledge even though there is work to do, that we've come a really long way.”

Cleveland’s Freedom Fest is Saturday, June 19 from 12 p.m. – 10 p.m. 

For more information on Cleveland’s Freedom Fest, visit its website.