Growing State College Juneteenth Event Brings Celebration and Reflection

Community members took to Fraser Street and the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza on Saturday afternoon as State College marked its largest Juneteenth celebration to date.

The block party from noon to 6 p.m.— hosted by State College Chapter of the NAACP, in partnership with the Penn State Center for Performing Arts, The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, Institute for Development and State College Borough — was a chance to both celebrate and reflect during the Centre Region’s third annual commemoration of Juneteenth, which marks the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans on June 19, 1865.

Throughout the sunny and mild afternoon, attendees enjoyed live music, poetry, dance, spoken word performances, food and a market showcasing Black vendors.

The burgeoning annual event has been bolstered by increasing community support as well as a $15,000 Journeying Toward Freedom grant from the Pennsylvania Tourism Office awarded in April.

“I’m very excited to see so many people come out today and see how much it has grown over the past couple of years, the support we have gotten from the community in terms of resources to be able to expand it,” State College NAACP President Lorraine Jones said on Saturday. “So I’m very happy and pleased to see so many people understand what Juneteenth is and understand how important it is for us to be able to have the support we need to celebrate and continue this tradition, just to add to helping people feel a sense of belonging and welcome in the Centre County region.”

Saturday’s block party was the culmination of a week of events. Black 2 Reality hosted activities at venues around the area, including a soiree scheduled for Saturday night at the Graduate Hotel, and the Penn’s Woods Music Festival held a Juneteenth jazz concert on Friday night.

The State College NAACP and partners also sponsored “Reflections of Black Experiences: Voices of Freedom through the Ages,” an exhibition at Woskob Family Gallery curated by Grace Hampton, Penn State professor emerita of art and former vice provost. The exhibition — which featured the work of local students from elementary through high school as well as adult artists — opened on Friday evening with a ceremony awarding more than $800 in prizes.

“We’ve had exhibition before but this one is so unique because we’re covering all the age ranges,” Hampton said. “We had a magnificent show of students from the local high school, elementary and junior high and we awarded prizes… What was more important about the exhibition was that it was a gathering of people and a gathering of people centering around the arts. That was so important in celebrating this very important event, the Juneteenth celebration.”

Hampton said she was inspired by the statements made by younger artists.

“What impressed me most was the individual creative statements. We tend to think of art as something you hang on the wall to be beautiful, but art also makes a statement,” she said.

The celebration of Juneteenth is important for helping to build a sense of community and belonging, but also to contemplate the past and future, Jones said.

“I think another thing that’s important is to reflect,” Jones said. “Part of this is not only celebrating but acknowledging the past struggles and the continued struggles in terms of racial oppression and systemic racism.”

Hampton, a longtime figure in the region’s cultural community, said the growth of the State College Juneteenth celebration reflects a positive change.

“I came to Penn State University as an administrator in 1985,” she said. “There was no talk of a Juneteenth festival back then. So I’ve seen the whole community grow and change in very positive ways. A lot of changes have taken place, a lot of very good things, but there is so much more to do and we should hold together as a community, even as a nation, to keep what we have a positive and not let this thing that we have become eroded.”