Juneteenth: Spoken Word Poetry

Montana Black Collective artist Jason Forges returns to Helena to perform a set of spoken word poetry in celebration of Juneteenth 2025.

Come celebrate Juneteenth with a barbecue on the courthouse lawn preceding Forges headlining performance on the Myrna stage.

Juneteenth, or June 19, commemorates the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, which had declared the end of slavery in places under Confederate control two and a half years earlier. The proclamation had been largely ignored in Texas. Newly freed Black people celebrated and started an annual tradition of Juneteenth commemorations with music, barbecues, services, and other activities.