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Today Boston marks Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. after the Civil War. On June 19, 1865, the Union Army reached Galveston Bay, Texas and it was announced that all enslaved people in the state were now free.
Massachusetts enacted a law to make Juneteenth a state holiday in 2020, and officially observed the holiday for the first time in 2021.
Here’s a look at Juneteenth celebrations and events that are planned around the Boston area on Thursday.
Cambridge is having a Juneteenth Freedom Day parade and celebration. The parade starts at 10 a.m. at the corner of Mass. Ave and Pleasant Street in Central Square. It goes down Pleasant Street, to Western Avenue, to Blackstone Street and ends at Riverside Press Park. There will be a celebration at the park with music, food and performances.
Brookline is hosting a free block party from noon to 4 p.m. at the Florida Ruffin Ridley School. There will be free food, music games, dancing and waterslides.
The historic Shirley-Eustis House is hosting a “Freedom Cookout” from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Roxbury. There will be free tours of the mansion, free food, games and live entertainment.
Take the ferry to Georges Island in Boston Harbor for live music and “powerful explorations of Black History in Boston.” The free event is from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Boston’s Juneteenth celebration will be held on Saturday, June 21 at Franklin Park. Picnics, barbecues, music and dancing are planned at Shattuck Picnic Grove and all around the park.
The Museum of African American History in Boston is free to all visitors for a Juneteenth Open House. Family-friendly activities include Underground Railroad walking tours, story time, dancing, face painting and story time.
The Museum of Fine Arts is offering free admission for all Massachusetts residents on June 19. One of the featured exhibits is Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, spotlighting the work of the Roxbury artist whose work racial prejudice and social injustice.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is also having a free day on Thursday. It will include “performances, conversations, and activities that celebrate community and freedom with Boston-based Black artists and leaders.”
The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston is offering free admission, but you must get advanced tickets online.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday, so that means the post office and the stock market are closed Thursday.
Public schools and libraries are closed in Massachusetts on Juneteenth. All courts and Registry of Motor Vehicle offices are closed Thursday and will reopen Friday.
Banks like Bank of America, TD Bank and Wells Fargo are closing for the holiday.
Most retailers and supermarkets should be open on Thursday.
This time, the people marched in resistance to the harsh treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.
“We descend from Immigrants and Revolutionaries,” read a battle cry beamed onto the side of the brick meeting house Tuesday.
“The society that stops seeing the people at the grocery line or the people that ride the bus with us, as human beings with beating hearts, then it’s not far off before our society devolves into no society at all,” Gilberto Calderin, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said to the crowd of hundreds.
The protest was organized by activist groups Boston Indivisible and Mass 50501, and began at the Irish Famine Memorial Plaza, just steps from the meeting house.
The lively crowd held up signs, waved American flags, and chanted during the march along Milk Street and Congress Street to the harbor.
Janet England of Brighton held a sign that read, “Democracy Needs Courage.”
The protesters, she said are “true patriots because we want freedom and democracy.”
“Although protest is a long game, we can’t give up. If you think about women’s suffrage, gay rights, the civil rights movement, it took years, but we just can’t give up,” she said.
Gloria Krusemeyer, from Alrington, used a walker to join the march.
“I’m irritated that I haven’t done more, and I’m just lucky that I can walk fast enough to be doing this,” she said.
Rick Mueller, from Cambridge, was dressed as Uncle Sam and held a large sign that read, “Liberty and Justice For All.”
“We’re fighting for America, so I’m gonna be America,” he said of his costume.
He handed small American flags out to protesters who waved them enthusiastically.
Ice dumping duties was limited to volunteers and select people.
Among them was Sarah, a mother who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Sarah declined to share her last name for her daughter’s safety.
After throwing ice into the harbor, Fiona shyly said that she wanted to come to the protest to “help families stay together.”
Through tears, Sarah said her decision to bring along Fiona came from wanting to teach her daughter to care about people from all walks of life.
“Kindness and compassion are things we learn in kindergarten and she will be in kindergarten so it’s really important for her to be kind and compassionate,” Sarah said, kissing her daughter’s check.
Likewise, Sara Sievers, from Cambridge, brought her parents, sister, her nephews and niece to dump ice.
“I think this is one of the most brutal regimes we’ve had in this country, and I want my niece and nephew to remember that it’s important to protest, and that we in Boston are part of a proud tradition of dumping things into the harbor with which we disagree,” Sievers said.
The family wore costumes of historical figures including Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Charles.
As the protest came to a close, Martha Laposata, spokesperson for Boston Indivisible said she wanted protestors to walk away knowing their voices matter.
“We cannot stand down,” Laposata said. “When people rise up against an authoritarian government, if they stay consistent and they keep growing, ultimately an authoritarian government will stand down.”
Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
Crime
An MIT professor was shot and killed in Brookline on Monday night.
Brookline police responded a report of a man shot in his home on Gibbs Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning, the DA says.
Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. Originally from Portugal, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death in a regulatory hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities on Tuesday, according to CNN.
“Sadly, I can confirm that Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” an MIT spokesperson wrote in a statement.
In January, Loureiro was honored as one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former president Joe Biden.
The investigation into the homicide remains ongoing. No further information was released.
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A man was hospitalized after being shot Monday night in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The shooting happened on Gibbs Street. There was a large police presence at the scene.
The victim was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not known.
Police said the victim was shot three times and grazed by another round.
Authorities did not say if any arrests had been made.
No further information was immediately available.
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