Westford’s First Juneteenth Flag Raising Event & Celebration

The Westford Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee invites everyone to Westford’s First Juneteenth Flag Raising & Celebration. Starting at 9:00 am on Wed, June 19 on Westford Town Common it will be a morning of community celebration and reflection with the goal of raising awareness of Juneteenth and Westford’s history of slavery. As we hoist the traditional Juneteenth flag, we will be joined by speakers from the community to help us mark Westford’s first formal Juneteenth celebration. It is an opportunity for town leadership to recognize this important holiday and its deeper meaning in American history – history that wasn’t taught to us in schools and may still be a bit lacking. Our awareness today allows us to learn more about ourselves and our own combined history of the U.S. This event marks an important statement about our town’s ongoing commitment to racial equity.

Immediately after the flag raising – approximately 9:30am – we will head over to the Westford Museum where we will be treated to a spoken historical account of slavery in Westford from Westford Historian Leslie Howard and acknowledgement of a Westford-born, revolution-area black soldier. These historical accounts will add context and richness of this special inaugural celebration Juneteenth in Westford. Even though Westford was in the Union state of Massachusetts, it was not exempt from slavery. Leslie Howard has done extensive research on the history of slavery in Westford and will share a portion of that information and allow us to envision the slaves as real people who labored on this land where we now reside.

For more info or to register, visit: https://bit.ly/WestfordJuneteenth2024