This year’s Juneteenth celebration comes two weeks after an act of arson was reported at the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill, where the Museum of African American History is located.
Noelle Trent, president and CEO of the museum, doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence. Trent said on GBH’s The Culture Show Thursday that this year’s celebration comes as Black history is increasingly challenged, distorted or erased.
She said that for Black institutions and museums, threats are often a consequence of exposing the truth.
“This vandalism, this arson ... is not out of the realm of possibility when you dare to tell the truth and stand in the power of that truth,” Trent said.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to deliver news of the end of slavery, which had occurred two years earlier with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
This year is the fifth anniversary of the holiday being declared a national holiday.
In Boston on Thursday, a flag raising ceremony was held at City Hall Plaza “to honor Black liberation, resilience, culture, and community.”
Thursday, evening, a Unity Walk was held in Dorchester, led by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services Faith-Based Initiatives Program.
On Friday, a celebration is planned for Joy Street on Beacon Hill from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. featuring live music, spoken word performances, local Black-owned businesses, food vendors, family activities, storytelling, and free admission to the African Meeting House and Abiel Smith School.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Franklin Park will host its own Juneteenth celebration from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For Trent, the celebrations come in the shadow of arson.
During the overnight hours on June 4, a package of decorations for the Juneteenth celebration at the museum were set on fire by a person who was caught on video surveillance.
The Boston Police Department and the National Park Service law enforcement told GBH News this week they are still investigating.
“We have to take these threats seriously,” Trent said. “One of the things that I know as a historian is that when Black religious institutions, artistic institutions — any group — decides to take a bold declaration of the history and culture and put that out there into the world, when people disagree ... one of the first things they do is the rhetoric, and then there’s next is a physical attack,” she said.
Trent said that to her, the incident feels intentional, and not a random act.
“It was related to the Juneteenth celebration. The area where the burnt materials were found is not an easily accessible area to the public. You really have to know our property,” she said. “It requires us to think about what message is being sent by that action, intentionally or unintentionally, and then what our response is going to be.”
The African Meeting House is the oldest existing Black church building in the country. Trent said it survived for over 220 years and she intends to make sure that it continues to survive.
Trent said that for her, Juneteenth is about reveling in the joy of the celebration. She doesn’t plan to talk about the horrors of slavery, but rather to dance, have a barbeque, play some drums and hug people.
“Juneteenth is a special day. It is a day when a group of people heard that their destiny, the destiny of their children and of their children’s children was forever altered,” she said.
