Press Release
JUNTEENTH OBERLIN 2026
Oberlin Juneteenth | P.O. Box 604 | Oberlin, OH 44074
Oberlin, OH — The Juneteenth Oberlin Executive Board is proud to present this year’s annual Juneteenth
Celebration Festival, “Reclaiming Our Black History for the New Generation” on June 12th and 13th, 2026, with a fashion show on Friday the 12th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., all day festivities on Saturday the 13th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and memorial services on Saturday the 13th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Juneteenth celebrates June 19th, 1865, considered the date when the last enslaved people in America were freed. Although news of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation had been widespread, total nationwide emancipation was only achieved when Union troops entered Galveston, Texas two and half years later, after the Civil War ended. While its roots are in Texas, Juneteenth has become a federal holiday to celebrate the abolition of slavery and the beginning of freedom across the United States. Our community’s history of commitment to freedom makes Juneteenth particularly special here. Oberlin Juneteenth is a grassroots organization run by everyday working people from families with strong ties to the city’s southeast quadrant — long the only place Black people could live in Oberlin and the site of the Oberlin Underground Railroad Center in the historic Roundhouse.
This year’s Juneteenth will be held at the intersection of Main Street and Edison Street, in the George A. Abram Pavilion and the nearby Roundhouse and lawn.
The evening of Friday June 12th will see the Juneteenth Fashion Show return to Oberlin, dazzling the evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Roundhouse.
On Saturday June 13th, all-day festivities will begin at 9:00 a.m. with an opening prayer from Rev. Laurence Nevels and a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Oberlin College alumna Donnay Edmund. Dr. Mary Ann Harris will share spellbinding tales honed over decades of inspired storytelling. A DJ, line dancing, and the soulful jazz of the Blu Pi Band will animate the day. Food vendors, merchants, and local non-profits’ booths will be on site. Children’s activities will be offered all day, including horseback riding.
The Juneteenth Parade will start at 12:00 noon on Saturday, moving from Spring Street Park through southeast Oberlin along Groveland Street to Pleasant Street and then Edison Street at the Roundhouse and the Abram Pavilion. Guests of honor will be historian and 2022 National Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell, newly appointed Oberlin City Manager Greg Holcomb, and newly elected Oberlin Municipal Court Judge Farah Emeka. Alongside the honorees, the parade will feature musicians and dancers, clowns and candy, motorcycles, old school cars, civic groups, and the Freedom Riders on horseback.
Saturday June 13th’s evening memorial services will begin at 6:30 p.m. to commemorate the pain, suffering, and loss of life of Africans in the Diaspora during the centuries-long Maafa, also known as the Holocaust of Enslavement. Led by Ms. Ade Sharpley at Oberlin’s Westwood Cemetery, the Maafa ceremony will begin with an invocation by Rev. Laurence Nevels. Shirley Chambers will lead us in song and we will lay flowers at the graves of friends and relatives to conclude the service.
This year we dedicate ourselves to reclaiming Black history for our children and future generations. Mrs. Margaret Christian will not be in attendance this year due to health reasons, but the Juneteenth Committee will be giving her flowers of appreciation for her dedication to Juneteenth and her outstanding knowledge of Oberlin’s history and present. Ms. Ade Sharpley, who coordinated the Juneteenth festival for over two decades, will continue to lead the Maafa services. The Juneteenth Oberlin Executive Board’s new generation counts chairperson Valerie Lawson and members distinguished by generations-long commitment to the community and to freedom: Gail Abram, Fijabi Julien-Gallam, LaKrisha Harris, and Alesha Caine.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in joining in the success of coordinating Oberlin’s Juneteenth celebrations, feel free to contact Valerie Lawson or any Executive Board member by email at OberlinJuneteenth@gmail.com or at the new mailing address, P.O. Box 24, Oberlin OH 44074.
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