Many Texas African-American communities began to regularly commemorate “Juneteenth” soon after the June 19, 1865, reading of the Emancipation Proclamation at Galveston by Union General Gordon Granger. Members of Antioch Baptist Church and Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church organized the Colored People of Harris County Festival Association to promote the annual Houston Juneteenth celebration. It soon became apparent that a permanent location for the celebration was needed, and in 1872, the Association purchased this ten-acre site for Emancipation Park. The creation of the park as a recreational and educational facility by the organization and its successors so soon after emancipation demonstrates the determination of African-Americans in Houston to create an institution that they owned and operated.
The park was the home of the first De-Ro-Loc No-Tsu-Oh (“Colored Houston” spelled backwards) Carnival in 1909. The carnival was patterned after the No-Tsu-Oh Carnival, and included attractions such as a Wild West show and a football game between Prairie View and Bishop colleges. The park was donated to the City of Houston in 1916, and when Houston parks were officially segregated in 1922, Emancipation Park became the only public park in Houston open to African-Americans until 1940.
Through years, the park has been the site of parades, concerts, movies, classes for youth and adults, and community meetings. Juneteenth celebrations continue at Emancipation Park, which remains an important central gathering place for area African-American residents. (2008)
Marker is property of the state of Texas