Juneteenth is a holiday to celebrate freedom! It's the anniversary of June 19, 1865 when word of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the people living in slavery in Galveston, Texas. All St. Tammany Parish Libraries will be closed June 19, 2026 for Juneteenth, but before then, you can pick up some relevant books at your library!
This book is a great introduction to the many ways you can celebrate Juneteenth and why it's important. It comes with recipes and a quiz to test your knowledge!
This comic-style book tells of the origins of Juneteenth and how it is important to remember the different stages of Black American history, and shows how the celebrations changed over time.
Young Huldah is living in slavery, about to celebrate her birthday on the very day that would become Juneteenth! The community comes together to create a flag out of a quilt!
You might see different flags celebrating Juneteenth, one of them created in 1997, with blue, red, and a starburst outline, and another being the Pan-African flag.
You might see people celebrating with red food and drinks to symbolize the suffering enslaved people went through as well as strength, spirituality, and ancestral connectedness. You might see food like jollof rice and barbecue. Besides various recipes, the cookbook contains crafts and games to celebrate.
Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free
We can thank Opal Lee for bringing the holiday from a local celebration to a national one. In this book, Opal tells the history of Juneteenth as well as remembering what it was like when she was a child. It even comes with a recipe at the back!
You can also check out more books about Juneteenth!
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