Washington Celebrates Juneteenth with Caleb Rainey ‘The Negro Artist’ on June 18

Caleb Rainey, “The Negro Artist,” will be featured at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, at the Washington Public Library as part of Washington for Justice‘s 2024 Juneteenth celebration. Rainey, a spoken-word poet, will be accompanied by jazz musician Randy Swift.

Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom. The federal holiday was celebrated on Monday. Many Juneteeth events have already been held, but more are to come this week in cities across the state.

Sule Craig-Williams is a member of Washington For Justice, a nonpartisan group whose mission is to create a more inclusive community through advocacy, service and education. She said Washington, Iowa, is conveniently located near Kalona, Iowa City, Burlington, Mt. Pleasant and other metro areas. She hopes people attend the event and celebrate Juneteenth with Washington.

“This is right in the middle so hopefully somebody is out there looking to do something,” she said. “I want them to know these events are out there and come out and join us. Support us.”

She said she is proud of Juneteenth because it sheds light on an important piece of history people may not know much about.

“People say Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation,” she said. “In talking to Black folks, they will say, ‘No, we freed ourselves.'”

Knowing the history and culture surrounding Juneteenth will help broaden people’s perspectives, she said.

“Come up with a mindset: ‘I’m going to learn something new.’ Come up with a mindset that perhaps learning something new is going to give me the perspective of maybe getting involved, learning that if I see something or hear something that’s wrong, that I should speak up and correct it,” she said.

Other Washington Juneteenth events included a movie screening of the “13th” by Ava DuVernay last week.