According to the New Orleans Agenda, the New Orleans
Museum of Art (NOMA) will allow free admission to its sculpture garden on June
19,in remembrance of Juneteenth. The museum hopes that "the
Sculpture Garden will provide an opportunity for peace and reflection" on the
day that enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their
freedom.
June 19, 1865, was a little over two months after the Civil
War and two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, but white
slave owners refused to concede to these facts and kept this information from
those they enslaved. Juneteenth is a celebration of the day on which General
Gordon reached Galveston and alerted the city's enslaved population of their
liberation.
The day is now celebrated on a national scale and, according
to a report by The New York Times, was recently the subject of
major controversy when President Trump chose Juneteenth to hold his campaign
rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, under intense pressure and scrutiny, he
opted to delay the rally.
The sculpture garden is currently open Wednesdays through
Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Click
here for more information on NOMA's safety standards.
In honor of Juneteenth, the New
Orleans School of Ballet is also putting on a special performance Friday evening
at 6:30 p.m. that "will commemorate black lives lost and
celebrate black beauty, love, strength, and grace."
NOMA, 1
Collins Diboll Cir., noma.org/sculpture garden.
New Orleans School of Ballet at the Labyrinth at Audubon Park, East Drive at Laurel Street, neworleansschoolofballet.com.
