A coalition of local religious and civic organizations will hold its third annual celebration of Juneteenth from 2-5 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, at Flat Iron Crossroads, 7709 Flat Iron Road, Gloucester.

This year’s theme is “Freedom, Families, Faith and Future.” The public is invited to this free event and encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day that the last enslaved people in the Confederate states living in Texas were informed that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Slavery was officially abolished in the United States with the ratification of 13th amendment to the Constitution on Dec. 6, 1865.

Keynote speaker is Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of history at Norfolk State University. She is also the emeritus director of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies at Norfolk State. She is the author of several books and articles, including “Vir...