How will Kansas City celebrate Juneteenth this year? Here’s what’s planned
The recent protests nationally and locally raising awareness of social injustice — combined with the COVID-19 pandemic — have made this a unique year for JuneteenthKC.
Program director Makeda Peterson said interest in Kansas City’s celebration has exploded, with the website attracting thousands of new visitors each week.
“We’ve definitely seen a boom,” she said.
The pandemic forced JuneteenthKC to cancel its annual festival at the 18th & Vine Jazz District, but Peterson has converted the celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States into a big, mostly online experience.
Some smaller, in-person Juneteenth events are slated for the weekend, but JuneteenthKC is the city’s oldest and biggest.
“With a virtual celebration, I thought it would be less work,” Peterson said. “It’s been a lot more of a project than I expected.”
Peterson is the daughter of Horace Peterson III, founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America who brought Juneteenth to Kansas City in 1980. Makeda Peterson, a full-time social worker for the Front Porch Alliance, has been working with the nonprofit JuneteenthKC since 2012, the year she graduated from Rockhurst University.
The 2020 JuneteenthKC program began June 1, and dozens of educational and community events are running the entire month. The largest chunk will take place June 20, one day after the official holiday.
“That would have been when we had the festival day,” Peterson said, “so we decided that would be when we would focus the virtual events.”
The highlight June 20 will be a panel discussion beginning at noon on the six-part Netflix documentary “Who Killed Malcolm X?” with local journalist and film critic Shawn Edwards and directors Rachel Dretzin and Phil Bertelsen. At 3 p.m., Edwards will lead a discussion called “Protesting Thru The Arts With Shawn Edwards.”
Also on tap are performances livestreamed from 18th & Vine, as well as other virtual events and workshops focusing on health, the arts, education, business, history and more (the full schedule is at juneteenth-kc.com/schedule).
Some events will feature people from beyond Kansas City who likely couldn’t have traveled here for a live event.
“We’ve definitely been able to widen the net on speakers and people who can get involved virtually,” Peterson said. “We’ve been able to think outside the box.”
One of the few on-site events for Juneteenth is the Mobile Pantry Tour, with scheduling of appointments for COVID-19 care as well as food pantry distribution, 4 to 6 p.m. June 20 at Gregg Klice Community Center.
Another part of the celebration is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Juneteenth Coming Together (nelson-atkins.org), which features videos of a tribute hosted by DJ Joe and DJ Ice Kole with area performers and “Clips & Conversations” with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Kansas native Kevin Willmott.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when a Union general came to Galveston, Texas, to inform a reluctant community that President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier had freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday’s name is a combination of “June” and “nineteenth.”
Other ways to commemorate Juneteenth
▪ Pray on Troost for Racial Healing will take place 7-8 p.m. June 19, when citywide churches will gather for a silent prayer along 10 miles of Troost. Participants are encouraged to stand on the east side of the street wearing masks with white tape bearing a word such as peace, unity, love or repentance. prayontroost.org.
▪ A free in-person Juneteenth celebration on the property of Happy Foods Center, 4019 E. 31st St., will include local artists, live bands, games, vendors and more, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. June 20. Free masks and hand sanitizers will be available. A kickoff party is scheduled for 8-10 p.m. June 19 at the KC Daiquiri Shop, 1116 Grand. facebook.com.
▪ The Major Taylor Cycling Club will put on a Juneteenth Bicycle Tour covering about 19 miles. Riders, who will learn the historical and cultural context of the Emancipation period, should meet at 7:30 a.m. June 20 at Gregg Klice Community Center. facebook.com.
▪ The American Jazz Museum and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum reopened June 16 (10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday) with a two-step admissions process. Reserve a visit time at jazzandbaseballkc.eventbrite.com (free) and purchase a ticket ($6-$10 each; $8-$15 for both museums) at americanjazzmuseum.org/visit or nlbmtickets.eventbrite.com.
