Hundreds of people gathered in Salt Lake City on Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people living in Texas learned they were free, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
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In Salt Lake City, events were held to celebrate the holiday, including a walk from the Utah State Capitol, as well as music, food, art and a Black Business Expo, which was first held in 2021 amid the pandemic.
“As you probably know, a lot of small businesses were failing at that time, but black owned businesses were specifically failing at an exponentially higher rate,” organizer Cleopatra Louise Balfour told KSL. “So, we wanted to see how we can support the development of those businesses.”
Salt Lake City’s sixth annual Juneteenth celebration featured more than 60 vendors.
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The holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States was recognized across the nation, including in Galveston, Texas, where the historic event took place.
“It is important. It’s a holiday for all Americans to celebrate because what it is, is it’s celebrating the progress that we’ve made as a nation,” Balfour said.
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