Celebrate Juneteenth At Alabama Shakespeare Festival With Outdoor Installation

Alabama Shakespeare Festival invites friends, neighbors and visitors to Montgomery to celebrate and reflect on Juneteenth with us. Walk the stunning grounds to learn about the history of Juneteenth and take in perspectives on freedom from 13 Black artists who've collaborated with ASF over the years. The Juneteenth outdoor installation will be up on ASF's great lawn through July 5.

The installation features 13 outdoor panels on ASF's lawn. ASF invited Black theatre artists who have collaborated with us over the years to respond to the question "What does freedom mean to you?" Each panel includes information about the featured theatremaker and their perspective on freedom.

Celebrate Juneteenth is open through July 5. More information is available at asf.net/Juneteenth.

Theatremakers featured in the exhibition:

• Lindsay Benton - Actor, Alabama State University Faculty Member
• Ramona Ward
• Lydia Fort -headshot
• Christina Ham
• Joel Jones
• Chauncy Thomas
• Kalonji Gilchrist
• Quinton Cockrell
• Addae Moon
• Lester Kiser
• Kathy Perkins
• Darlene Hope
• Cassia Thompson

Celebrate Juneteenth At ASF is made possible by support from the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery County Commission.

Commemorated annually on June 19, "Juneteenth" is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the US.

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln declared all persons held as slaves in the United States would be freed on January 1, 1863. However, most slaves in Texas were unaware of their freedom until after the Civil War ended. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston to inform the people of Texas that all slaves were free.

Juneteenth celebrations began in Galveston in 1886, with parades, prayer, singing, and readings from the proclamation.