{"id":3383,"date":"2026-06-20T21:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/its-for-all-of-us-juneteenth-celebration-connects-san-diegans-through-history-and-music\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T21:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:32:15","slug":"its-for-all-of-us-juneteenth-celebration-connects-san-diegans-through-history-and-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/its-for-all-of-us-juneteenth-celebration-connects-san-diegans-through-history-and-music\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s for all of us\u2019: Juneteenth celebration connects San Diegans through history and music"},"content":{"rendered":"

The energy was lively at Memorial Park in Logan Heights on Saturday, as hundreds of San Diegans joined together for the community\u2019s annual Juneteenth celebration.<\/p>

Read more Photos: Cooper Family Foundation\u2019s Juneteenth celebration<\/a><\/p>\n

Juneteenth, officially on June 19, commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. It was designated a national holiday in 2021 and was honored this year in San Diego County with music festivals, poetry readings, genealogy workshops and community gatherings.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s celebration was organized by the Cooper Family Foundation. Its founder \u2014 former San Diego resident Sidney Cooper Sr. \u2014 began the event about 50 years ago to bring southeastern San Diego together and help educate the community about Black history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re staying really true to the legacy that my grandfather created,\u201d said Maliya Jones, Cooper\u2019s granddaughter and the foundation\u2019s marketing and events coordinator.<\/p>\n

The celebration is free, which Jones says helps keep the event accessible.<\/p>\n

Attendees on Saturday sat in the sunshine and enjoyed musical performances and stopped at booths led by community groups, including free health services and local vendors.<\/p>\n

There was also a history wall, which has been part of the event for more than two decades. It features the story of the Black community, including its origins in Africa, slavery and racism in the U.S. and the modern-day struggle.<\/p>\n

This year, the wall had a few new sections. One offered a historical account of the Black church experience in San Diego, and another taught about the long history of reparations in the U.S. There was also a new section on the theft of Africa \u2014 of its people, resources and continued colonization of the continent.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf we really are trying to achieve liberation for the whole community, understanding our history is a critical piece of that,\u201d said Dawn Miller, a high school ethnic studies teacher and one of the event volunteers who helps build the history wall. \u201cWithout our history, none of us are free.\u201d<\/p>

Read more \u2018These vacancies cause havoc.\u2019 Lemon Grove approves staffing changes.<\/a><\/p>\n

Miller says this education is more important now than ever, especially as the Trump administration has worked to remove references to Black Americans and their achievements from federal institutions.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s often believed that the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation \u2014 signed by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War \u2014 immediately freed enslaved people in Confederate states, it actually took years for all enslaved people to be free.<\/p>\n

Juneteenth honors June 19, 1865 \u2014 the day that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced freedom for thousands of enslaved Black people.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime, later that year.<\/p>\n