Join us for Westford's First Juneteenth Flag Raising & Celebration! We will meet at 9am June 19 on Westford Town Common for a morning of of community celebration with intention and refelection.
As we hoist the traditional Juneteenth flag, we will be joined by representatives from the community to help us mark this occasion of Westford's first formal Juneteenth celebration with intention and reflection. This event marks an important statement about our town’s ongoing commitment to racial equity.
Immediately after the flag raising – approximately 9:30am - we will head over to the Westford Museum where we will be treated to a spoken historical account of slavery in Westford from Westford Historian Leslie Howard and acknowledgement of a Westford-born, revolution-area black solider. These historical accounts will add context and richness of this special inaugural celebration Juneteenth in Westford.
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Juneteenth, a local and national holiday, commemorates the day in 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, when the last enslaved people in Texas were freed.
Also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is the oldest-known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making it a federal holiday, the first since the addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
Leslie Howard is the author of "Once Known: A History of Slavery in Westford."
The Westford Museum houses the Westford Woman Doll "Peggy: A Slave." Peggy was a servant of Joseph Hildreth Jr who lived on Hildreth Street near Flagg Road. She was baptized in Westford in 1732. The doll is an art piece that serves as a visible reminder of Westford's history of slavery.
