Itinerary: Juneteenth

Juneteenth started as a folk holiday in Texas and has spread around the nation as the date to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States.

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederate states, was signed in September 1862 and became effective Jan. 1, 1863.

In Texas, however, people remained enslaved even weeks after the Civil War ended in April 1865. It wasn’t until Union troops, led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, arrived in Texas on June 19, 1865, to proclaim U.S. sovereignty that slaves found out they’d been freed.

Recognition of Juneteenth waned by the mid-20th century but has had a revival in recent years, and celebrations now often extend a week or more beyond June 19.

Thursday

Start with a visit to the California African-American Museum (600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles. [213] 744-7432) to see the exhibit “Rhythms of the Soul: African Instruments in the Diaspora,” which explores how African music gave birth to jazz, blues, hip-hop and rock music in America, on display through Aug. 20.

The museum also begins its monthly jazz concert series, JAAM at CAAM, with a free 6:30 p.m. performance by saxophonist Michael Sessions.

Friday

CAAM’s official Juneteenth celebrations are at One Colorado Courtyard (between Union Street and Colorado Boulevard, west of Fair Oaks Avenue, in Old Pasadena). Friday at 7:30 p.m., actor Wren Brown will read from Ralph Ellison’s novel, “Juneteenth.” The dance and jazz ensemble JazzAntiqua will perform excerpts from its work “Midtown Sunset.” The piece incorporates the poetry of Langston Hughes, and, like all JazzAntiqua work, live musical and dance improvisation.

On Saturday, CAAM also will sponsor an art workshop and performances by the Versatiles and Chester Whitmore’s Ebony Youth Dancers from 3 to 5 p.m.

Saturday

The Autry Museum of Western Heritage (4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, Los Angeles. [323] 667-2000) has a full day of free Juneteenth activities. The New Buffalo Soldiers reenact the all-black cavalry units stationed in the West after the Civil War. Actor Reginald Dorsey will read the Emancipation Proclamation at noon and music by Mike Mann and the Night Riders, Howard Marshall Jr., and Allen Lee will follow.

And the Blacksmyth’s Juneteenth Free Reading Series concludes this weekend at Greenway Court Theatre (Fairfax High School, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles. Reservations: [213] 972-8023). The program of plays by African American playwrights starts at 4 p.m. with “Measure of a Man” by Dig Wayne. At 7:30 p.m. is “The Diva Daughters Dupree” by Kim Yvonne Euell. “The Mahogany Millionaire: The Life and Times of Madame C.J. Walker” is Sunday at 5 p.m., followed by “The Called” by Eugene Lee.

Sunday

A free concert by the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra might be appropriate for Juneteenth. The program, “Three Centuries of the Fathers of Black Classical Music,” includes compositions by William Grant Still, Ignatius Sancho, Jose White, and the premiere of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s recently discovered “African Suite.” Members of Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers also will perform. The 7 p.m. concert is at the Wilshire United Methodist Church (4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. [310] 639-6999).