Celebrate Juneteenth and Berkshire County History at the Library!
June 19th commemorates Juneteenth, a day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas finally learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
On June 17, 2021 President Joe Biden signed the bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday, the first since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated in 1983.
If you would like to learn more about Juneteenth and access resources, read our previous blog post here.
Try out the Black Women's Library Reading Challenge 2026 to celebrate Juneteenth!
2026 Juneteenth Events at the Library
As the nation gears up to celebrate its 250th anniversary, we are excited to amplify the voices of American citizens whose work(s) have changed the country and region we live in.
Join us for a series of events centered around influential scholar and orator, Frederick Douglass, and other abolitionists that found themselves in Berkshire County and ventured further to take this meaningful work nationally.
These programs are funded by the Mass Humanities "Reading Frederick Douglass Grant." Learn more about the grant here.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together Book Group
Thursday, June 18th at 3:00 p.m.
This first event focuses on Douglass' life as someone who was once enslaved and fought for his freedom and other African Americans. The book group will read and discuss David Walker's graphic novel "The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom." Copies are available at the library.
We will be using the provided Trauma Informed Discussion guide from the Mass Humanities Council to guide this discussion.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together: The Lasting Legacies in Berkshire County
Saturday, June 20th at 11:30 a.m.
This event is a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” performed by student leaders from Mount Greylock Regional Highschool.
Learn more about Douglass' speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" at the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Library Field Trip: Berkshire County Abolitionist Sites
(Registration Required)
Sunday, June 21st at 12:00 p.m.
This last event is a library fieldtrip where we venture to historical sites, monuments, statues, and more of abolitionists in Berkshire County - Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Elizabeth Freeman, and the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts.
We will be meeting at the first location in Pittsfield, then going to South County to see other sites. Lunch is provided from Momma Lo's BBQ in Great Barrington. We encourage patrons to carpool with one another (gas reimbursement is available). When signing up, please sign yourself up and in the comments mention who else will be in your vehicle and if there any food restrictions we should be aware of.
Audio and visual guides will be available for this event shortly!
Other Blog Posts
Great reminder that Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, and that Berkshire County history has its own stories worth exploring. I’m looking forward to the library’s resources—check out https://liveportrait.pro/what-is-liveportrait
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