June 19, 2026 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Free Admission Until 2:00 PM

On Friday, June 19, the Museum will be open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with free admission available until 2:00 PM. The day will be filled with inspiring programming, live music, cultural performances, family-friendly activities, and community resources honoring this important national holiday. Together, we celebrate history and the ongoing work of positive social change.

Entertainment

10:00 AM: Antonio Hobson, Phat Mak, KJ Willis

11:00 AM: Avid Violin, Black Cream

12:00 PM: Yella P., Ekpe and African Jazz Ensemble

1:15 PM: Lukah, francis the truman, Jonte Mayon

Children’s Activities

Balloon Art
Bubble Making Station
Home Depot Craft Workshop
Make Your Own Juneteenth Flag
Juneteenth and Museum Temporary Tattoos

Community Partners

Health Equity Fair (9:30 AM – 2:00 PM)
Vitalant Juneteenth Blood Drive
Methodist Sickle Cell Center & Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee
Baptist Memorial Health Care
Healthy Kids & Teens
Prostate Cancer Awareness
Voter Education and Registration (9:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Voter Registration
Slavery Memorial Project (9:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
Calvary Episcopal Church – Legacy of 87 Adams

Health Equity

This year’s celebration will also spotlight health equity, recognizing the vital connection between civil rights and access to healthy, thriving communities. Guests can engage in meaningful conversations, wellness-focused activities, and valuable resources designed to promote health for all as well as a comprehensive slate of health resources provided by Baptist Health Sciences University, Baptist Memorial Health Care, and Vitalant with the Sickle Cell Foundation. Health offerings include blood pressure and diabetes risk-factor screenings and education, osteopathic medicine demonstrations, and resource connections to community healthcare workers.

Voter Education and Registration

A voter registration drive will be hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated Chapters of Memphis and Shelby County from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm to encourage every visitor to exercise what the Museum calls a fragile, hard-fought right, especially in an election year when voting access remains contested across the country.

You can also see the new Legacy Experience exhibits, highlighting civil rights history from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 to the present day. Housed in the Museum’s Legacy Building, the expanded exhibitions illuminate the movement’s evolution over the past five decades, examining pivotal moments, strategies, and grassroots organizing that followed 1968 and continue to shape struggles for justice today.

The History of Juneteenth

Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union soldier Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were now free: an announcement that came more than two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, leaving Black Texans denied their freedom since January 1, 1863.