Today is Juneteenth and Pittsburgh is set to hold a number of events over the next several days to commemorate the freeing of the last slaves.
Just as Point State Park renovations forced the relocation of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Juneteenth festivities are also relocating this year to Mellon Park at the borders of Shadyside Point Breeze and East Liberty.
Promoter B Marshall was given the green light just last week to hold his annual celebration there.
The event will feature activities over the next four days, including YouthFest activities and live performances from artists ranging from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Blackbyrds.
The celebration begins at 11 a.m. and runs through 10 p.m.
There is also a Juneteenth parade scheduled for Saturday in the Golden Triangle.
City events will continue throughout the month including WAMO Day at Highland Park on June 28.
Today's holiday means government offices and banks are closed.
Buses are running on their regular weekday schedule.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey says it’s a day to celebrate but work still needs to be done.
“We still fighting the struggle, that we fought for so long,” said Gainey. “So, as much progress as I admit that we’ve made look how much more progress we’ve got to go and that will be a conversation with my children and others.”
Juneteenth origin:
It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — after the Civil War's end and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
The resulting Juneteenth holiday — its name combining “June” and “nineteenth” — has only grown in one-and-a-half centuries. In 2021, President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday — expanding its recognition beyond Black America.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.