Wednesday, June 19 is Juneteenth, the national holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States. This year, Visit Williamsburg is again partnering with the Juneteenth Community Consortium to promote the significance the destination played in this Black experience in American history.
From June 15-22, 2024, visitors can experience, celebrate, and reflect on this holiday’s importance at events throughout Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown such as Prelude to Juneteenth: The Emancipation Proclamation on the Virginia Peninsula at Jamestown Settlement, YJCW NAACP Juneteenth Community Festival at Freedom Park,and numerous special events like the sunrise service and communal quilt project at Colonial Williamsburg.
Among the events marking Juneteenth: talks and demonstrations at the Public Armoury by Master Blacksmith Darryl Reeves, a third-generation metal worker and owner of Andrew’s Welding & Blacksmith Shop in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward. In addition to his contemporary furniture and decorative art creations, Reeves is the most celebrated architectural blacksmith in the Gulf South. He is especially renowned for his meticulous, historically accurate wrought iron restorations of antique fences, gates, balcony railings, and window grilles in the French Quarter and beyond. Reeves is reviving the traditions of New Orleans’ 18th- and 19th-century African American ironworkers by transmitting his vast institutional knowledge and trade skills to a new generation of apprentices through the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild.
Art Exhibit, “I made this…”: The Work of Black American Artists and Artisans, on view in the Miodrag and Elizabeth Ridgely Blagojevich Gallery, celebrates the lives of eighteenth through twentieth-century Black American artisans and artists through the material culture they created. The title comes from a quote by 19th-century enslaved potter David Drake who inscribed these words on one of his pots despite laws prohibiting literacy for enslaved people. Drake is just one of the many artists represented in this exhibition. Objects from both Decorative Arts and Folk Art collections will be displayed in the same gallery contrasting the aesthetics and designs of men and women from different times, places, and backgrounds. These pieces represent the inspirations, resilience, and legacies of these talented makers.
Free Juneteenth Single-Day Ticket: In observance of Juneteenth, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is offering free admission to the Historic Area and the Art Museums on June 19 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Find more events and detailed information at https://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/events/juneteenth/.
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