WATCH: Juneteenth Celebration community panel Friday at 6 p.m. on KSAT.com

Community leaders come together to discuss Juneteenth’s relevance

SAN ANTONIO – KSAT will stream a community conversation and Juneteenth Celebration panel on Friday, June 18, at 6 p.m.

The 90-minute event will feature community leaders discussing the Juneteenth holiday and what it means to them personally, as well as the relevance to the organizations they run.

You can watch the discussion in the video player above or on KSAT.com.

Each panelist represents an organization or business tied to the African-American community in San Antonio. See the confirmed guests below:

  • Kenneth Stewart of the San Antonio African American Community Archive & Museum (SAACAM)
  • Shokara Nakpodia of Dreamweek/DreamVoice
  • Laura Thompson of The African American Network (TAAN TV)
  • Doug Heath of The San Antonio Observer
  • Carl Booker of Avista Products
  • Nneka Cleaver of The1 Media Hub
  • Milas Williams of World LoLei Inc
  • Lisa Jackson of LJPMEDIA

Also happening on Friday and Saturday is a Juneteenth History Harvest hosted by SAACAM.

Organizers are looking for people to bring photos, newspaper clippings - whatever they have - to help build community archives and tell San Antonio’s story. Attendees will also be able to record their own stories in an audio booth. The event is located at Navajo Civic Center at Comanche Park, 2600 Rigsby Ave.

This year marks the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth, the day enslaved Texans were officially proclaimed free, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

While the announcement on June 19, 1895, in Galveston, Texas, ostensibly set free enslaved African-Americans in this state, the holiday is largely celebrated across the country as the official end of slavery in the United States.


Read more about Juneteenth from KSAT: