'Welcoming for all': Juneteenth celebrations involve history, music, film and a Vineyard jubilee

A live lesson in American and Black history will Friday kick off both the Juneteenth weekend and the Arts Alive festival on the Falmouth Public Library lawn.

At 5 p.m. in a performance tent, Jeanne Morrison of AmplifyPOC Cape Cod and the League of Women Voters and State Rep. David Vieira will tell and re-enact the original events that the new federal holiday is celebrating.

That will be one of several events around Cape Cod & the Islands — including talks, music and films — to honor the abolition of slavery that is now marked nationwide after President Joe Biden last year proclaimed June 19 as the federal Juneteenth holiday. The day is known by some as African-American Independence Day, according to the Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee, which will hold a talk and Freedom Walk.

On Martha’s Vineyard, several businesses, arts and nonprofit organizations are collaborating to create an islandwide “edu-tourism” Juneteenth Jubilee weekend of events Friday through the actual holiday on Sunday. Among the numerous events at different venues will be a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah Jones  about creating the 1619 Project for The New York Times to mark the 400th anniversary of American slavery by reframing the country’s history through the consequences of slavery and contributions of Black Americans.

In Falmouth on Friday, Morrison will tell the story of Juneteenth, , according to ArtsFalmouth organizers, while Vieira will portray Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army. He was the man who read Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to the enslaved residents of Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 — more than two years after that document had set free all Confederate state slaves.

For the presentation, Falmouth High School students will play six Black Civil War heroes: Alexander Augusta, Robert Small, John Lawson, Harriet Tubman, Susan Baker King Taylor and Clara Barton.

Here are more details on those two celebrations and other ways to mark the holiday:

The Juneteenth Jubilee on Martha’s Vineyard

The three-day Juneteenth Jubilee on Martha’s Vineyard will include music, film and other entertainment, as well as presentations by historians about the maritime equivalent of the Underground Railroad — documented cases of slaves obtaining freedom at sea. Panel discussions will be held at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum and the Vineyard Preservation Trust’s Carnegie Heritage Center, island libraries and other venues.

Inkwell Haven LLC, which owns three historically Black Oak Bluffs guest houses, celebrated the first Juneteenth Jubilee event last year, and its Dunmere House will be dedicated as a destination on the island’s Martha’s Vineyard African American Heritage Trail over the weekend.

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Writer Jones will speak Saturday at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, followed by a Juneteenth Jubilee Creative Festival of theater (with actress Lynn Whitfield, best known for HBO’s “The Josephine Baker Story” and OWN’s “Greenleaf”), art, music and food.

Other events will involve films, including the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s “Resilience and Recognition: Short Films Through a Black Lens”; book-signings and readings, including by Vikki Young, author of “A Girl of Color”; talks, including by historical archaeologist Cheryl Janifer LaRoche, whose work focuses on escape from slavery and the Underground Railroad, and UMass professor Barbara Krauthamer, co-author of “Envisioning Emancipation — Black Americans and the End of Slavery”; and a Sunday Gospel Brunch at the Edgartown Yacht Club, with music by singer Athene Wilson.

Groups involved include the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, the Union Chapel Education and Cultural Institute, Circuit Arts, the Museum of African American History — Boston & Nantucket and the Vineyard Gazette.

For a full schedule: bit.ly/MVJuneteenthJubilee.

Music and more in Falmouth

The Arts Alive festival will again fill multiple tents on the lawn of the Falmouth library (300 Main St.) and adjacent Peg Noonan Park Friday through Sunday with music of all types, other performances, vendors and food. The idea to celebrate Juneteenth as part of Arts Alive came from pastor Nell Fields of the Waquoit Congregational Church and No Place for Hate, but Marilyn Rowland, ArtsFalmouth board president, says organizers were “delighted” to collaborate with them — as well as with Falmouth Public Schools, the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center, and the College Light Opera Company (CLOC).

Other events beyond the opening reenactment include performances by Candida Rose Baptista and the Groovalottos on Sunday; the CLOC singers and musicians with Juneteenth celebration songs; the Teaticket Elementary School Chorus; and the International Ensemble from Falmouth Academy. At 3 p.m. Sunday, there will also be a Juneteenth Spoken Word performance of stories and poetry inspired by the events leading to the holiday.

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“ArtsFalmouth has strived to be inclusive and to honor diversity, particularly in the last couple of years,” Rowland says by email. “We want to work more closely with AmplifyPOC and other groups in the future to encourage more artists of color to participate in Arts Alive. … Participation by all members of the community is so important, and makes Arts Alive, the arts community, and the community as a whole much more vibrant, equitable, and welcoming for all.”

The dozens of performers and vendors were asked to keep both Juneteenth and Father's Day in mind this year, she says, so vendors will offer items that honor Juneteenth.

Visitors will also be able to see the Falmouth library Storywalk of the children's book "Juneteenth for Mazie." Then at 6 p.m. June 15, the library will hold a book group discussion on Annette Gordon-Reed's "On Juneteenth." Copies are available for pickup at the reference desk. Registration to join the talk is required: www.falmouthpubliclibrary.org.

A Juneteenth Walk for Freedom in Woods Hole

The Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee will host a lecture by B. Chad Starks on “Be the Messenger: Tell the Truth About Independence in America and Its Impact on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” at 8 p.m. Friday in the Cornelia Clapp Auditorium, 7 MBL St., Woods Hole.

Then from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, the group will partner with Highfield Hall & Gardens (56 Highfield Drive, Falmouth) for a Juneteenth Walk for Freedom event. The community is invited to take contemplative strolls on the Highfield grounds or in adjacent Beebe Woods, and a Juneteenth children’s story will be featured for a Storywalk on the Beech Tree Trail. A tent will be set up offering information, refreshments, and coloring pages for children.

Registration for the walk and information: www.highfieldhallandgardens.org. More information: https://www.woodsholediversity.org/events/.

Artist market and fundraiser in Provincetown

Provincetown Brewing Co. (141 Bradford St.) will host a community fundraising event from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday for Mom Advocates (MAMA), which pairs advocates with caregivers during their postpartum year, and Amplify POC Cape Cod, an organization committed to eliminating the racial wealth gap (disparity in assets across race and ethnicity) by removing barriers created by systemic racism.

There will be live music, and artisans and businesses owned by people of color will be on hand; those involved will include Belonging Books, The Periwinkle Goddess, Action Is Everything, Zavia Walker and Cutco. There will be prizes to win from local businesses in a raffle. Attendance is free, though a $25 donation is suggested. Information: https://www.eventbrite.com.

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Music in Wellfleet and South Yarmouth

The David Eure Jazz Trio will play a Juneteenth holiday show at 5 p.m. Saturday to kick off the Summer Sounds Concert series at Wellfleet Preservation Hall (335 Main St.).

The band is based in Boston and includes Eure on violin, Lee Adler on piano and Chris Rathbun on bass. Hall organizers say Eure “virtually transforms the violin into a human voice, embodying a soulful sound with precision, clarity and finesse.” Tickets: $12-$25; https://www.wellfleetpreservationhall.org/.

The Cultural Center of Cape Cod (307 Old Main St, South Yarmouth) will host Kotoko Brass in “An Afternoon of Tradition, Diversity and Unity” concert at 3 p.m. Sunday. Kotoko Brass features musicians from Ghana, Antigua, Japan and the United States playing a style of West African dance music inspired by the traditional drum rhythms of Ghana.

The drums merge syncopated African percussion polyrhythms with dance grooves, according to information from the center, then the horns blend traditional sounds of New Orleans with the West African brass band sound heard from Ghana to Nigeria, while the guitar, keyboard and bass evoke "classic African and Caribbean styles of highlife, afrobeat, and reggae." Tickets: $25; www.cultural-center.org or 508-394-7100.

In Cotuit, a discussion of Africa

“Black Kingdoms Matter — Africa: The Motherland” is the title of the latest presentation by Robin Joyce Miller (also the writer) and James Walter Robinson in a Black Lives Matter series at Cotuit Center for the Arts (4404 Falmouth Road, or Route 28).

The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and focuses on “a very positive view of Africa, which is the Motherland to us all,” according to center information. The program will highlight some of the ancient African kingdoms that were in existence before the age of European Imperialism and colonization.

Tickets: $25, $20 for members, $23 for seniors/veterans; artsonthecapeorg. The talk will be streamed on the center's YouTube channel, and all programs in the Black Lives Matter series are there for viewing.

In Dennis, a film and talk

The MLK Action Team of the Nauset Interfaith Association will host the film “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America” at 4 p.m. Monday at Cape Cinema (35 Hope Lane, Dennis). The film will be followed by a panel of local activists sharing their reflections on the film and its relevance to Barnstable County.

Program partners are local racial justice organizations, including Amplify POC Cape Cod, BFree Wellness, Belonging Books, Cape Cod Voices and No Place For Hate Barnstable. Tickets, $15, which includes a small donation to the MLK Action Team: https://www.capecinema.com.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Juneteenth celebrations: history, music, film, talk, Vineyard jubilee