Each year on June 19th, local businessman Jonathan Leonard held a celebration in Leimert Park that honored the end of slavery in Texas.’
There would be speakers, entertainers and plenty of red soda water, BBQ ribs and watermelon for the crowd. No matter the day of the week June 19th happened to fall on, you could depend on Mr. Leonard, a native of Houston, Texas, to hold his traditional celebration.
Thus, Moza Mjasiri Cooper, Gail Jennings and Julian Dothard, of Black Arts Los Angeles, a non-profit arts organization, saw an opportunity to create an additional celebration that would take place on the third weekend of June each year. This would allow more people to participate in the celebration, and so with the support of local community leaders, vendors and sponsors, the Juneteenth Heritage Festival was born.
Even as we emerge from pandemic conditions, we still wanted to create a virtual Juneteenth Heritage Festival. Welcome to our digital Juneteenth experience of Freedom
