Buffalo Displays Love and Culture While Celebrating 50 Years Of Juneteenth

It's hard to believe that it's been five decades, but it has been, and the people of Buffalo have worked hard to build the largest celebration of American Emancipation Day in the United States.

If you rewind 50 years to June 26, 1976, when a group of folks that included Judson Price, Eugene Pierce, Gail Wells, Douglas Ruffin, Roosevelt Wardlaw, and others sought to create a festival for Blacks in Buffalo to understand and honor their heritage. During a time when Blacks in America were still fighting for equality, and the United States was busy getting ready to celebrate its bicentennial year, it was even more important to ensure that people in Western New York knew about the sacrifices that had been made for generations.

JuneTeenth is a time when we, as a people, should cease our normal daily routine and, if just for a moment, reflect on our past. We will find wisdom there; examine our strength and courage; and then, collectively, strive toward the future, for therein lies our hope, and our children's love, for many generations yet to come.
-Douglas Ruffin, Sr.

Now 50 years later, it's fitting that the Buffalo is leading the nation with a reminder that the words which Thomas Jefferson wrote in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence were finally on their way to be true.

Ed Nice Jackson

To honor the golden anniversary of the Buffalo Juneteenth Festival and Parade, the committee selected the theme: Honoring Our Past, Serving Our Present, Inspiring The Future! A fitting theme as Buffalo and the Empire State look towards the future.

You could see it in the eyes of young people through the Juneteenth Parade as reelers marched more than a mile down Genesee Street onto Best and into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Buffalo's east side to watch and cheer on, and thousands more filled one of Buffalo's premier parks on a beautiful, sunshine-filled day.

If you missed the parade and the festival, you can check out the photos below.