Needham will mark Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, with an event on the Town Common on Thursday, June 19, at 9:30 a.m.
The observance will be led by Select Board member Josh Levy and include a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. The board passed a resolution recognizing Juneteenth in the town of Needham that said, in part, “that all residents be encouraged to observe Juneteenth as a celebration of the resilience of Black Americans and an opportunity for education about the true history of this country.”
Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865, more than two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed they were free.
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