Courtesy of South Portland

This year’s local annual celebration and observance of Juneteenth and World Refugee Day is being held at the Redbank Community Center on June 19 from 1 to 5 p.m. The event is being hosted by the South Portland Human Rights Commission. The address is 95 MacArthur Circle West in South Portland.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. According to a commission news release, the holiday’s recognition as a federal holiday was pushed for by activists such as Lula Briggs Galloway, Opal Lee, and others, and the Congressional Black Caucus. On June 15, 2021, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act that established it as a federal holiday. On June 16, it passed through the United States House of Representatives on a 415-14 vote, before the bill was signed by President Joe Biden.

World Refugee Day falls on June 20. The day was organized by the United Nations in 2001 in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a multilateral treaty defining refugees and their rights.

The local event will be “a celebration of freedom,” as described by the South Portland Human Rights Commission.