Shoreline Juneteenth creates Oral History Project through social media exhibition

Cover photo from Shoreline's Public Art page

For the Juneteenth holiday 2020, the City of Shoreline has unveiled what will be an ongoing social media exhibition of curated videos created by Black Lives Matter Shoreline and the City’s Public Art Program. 

Members of Black Lives Matter Shoreline are interviewing family, friends, neighbors, and community leaders and posting short videos online. The videos focus on how families celebrate Juneteenth as well as what it means and why it is important. 

The exhibition is organized as a Facebook Group on the City’s Public Art Facebook page. You will need a Facebook account to view the exhibition.

Officially opened on June 19, the project will continue for several weeks as residents post more stories. In future years, the project may expand to become an oral history project in conjunction with the Shoreline Historical Museum.

Also known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and read General Orders, Number 3 informing the people of Texas that all slaves were free. 

President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederate States almost three years before. Juneteenth was quickly followed by the ratification of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. 

Juneteenth became a holiday in Texas in 1980 and is celebrated today for the ways in which it shows how far we have come as a nation in the past and how far we have to go in the present. In recognition of Juneteenth and its importance for all Americans, Shoreline Public Art is curating a gathering of voices celebrating the holiday and exploring its significance.

For more information, contact Shoreline’s Public Art Coordinator David Francis at dfrancis@shorelinewa.gov or Black Lives Matter Shoreline at blacklivesmattershoreline@gmail.com.