Shoreline celebrates Juneteenth with a new mural - dedication Sunday

Earlier this month, the Shoreline City Council declared June 19, 2022, as Juneteenth in the city of Shoreline. 

Juneteenth is the traditional day of celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. In 2021, the Washington State Legislature approved Juneteenth as a state holiday (see article). City Hall will be closed on Monday, June 20 in recognition of Juneteenth.

Artists Myron Curry and Vincent Keele

In partnership with ShoreLake Arts and other community members, the City worked with artists Myron Curry and Vincent Keele to add to the Juneteenth mural north of Shoreline City Hall on Midvale Ave North and 178th. 

Last year, Curry and Cynncear Easley created the first Juneteenth mural at that site. On Sunday, June 19 from 2:00 to 4:00pm, ShoreLake Arts is holding an informal event for people to drop-in and meet the artists.

Journalist Ida B. Wells

The portrait in the mural is of Ida B. Wells, a prominent journalist, educator, and an early civil-rights leader. 

Born into slavery during the Civil War, she went on to become a tireless advocate for the rights of African-Americans and women. In 2020, she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize “for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching."

The symbols on the mural are Adinkra. Adinkra symbols originated in West Africa but are understood across Africa. They are:

Taken together, these symbolize the building blocks of Solidarity.

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

Photos and graphics courtesy City of Shoreline