The South Coast Equity Coalition in partnership with the Juneteenth Celebration Committee is hosting Coos and Curry County’s Annual Juneteenth Celebration June 18th-June 21st, 2024. This year’s event has expanded to include multiple locations on the Southern Oregon Coast including Coos Bay, Bandon, and Brookings! Our annual theme is Family Reunion. We chose this theme because, for Black communities, family reunions have centered around resilience through storytelling, visibility, joy, and food. On June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Texas finally learned that they had been freed from bondage. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier, but Texas slaveholders hid that fact from the people they kept in chains. Since then, generations of Black Americans have celebrated the anniversary of that liberation as “Juneteenth.” The South Coast Equity Coalition is honored and delighted to bring this FREE celebration to Coos and Curry County for three days of fun, education, entertainment, and activities for all! Experience West African drumming provided by Gansango African Music and Dance Company. Teaching artists will engage participants in learning basic West African rhythms with hands-on use of drums, bells, shakers and clapping. These fun and interactive workshops will entertain and educate for all ages. Come one, come all – no prior music or drum experience required! Juneteenth Celebration Itinerary: COOS BAY – Tuesday, June 18th, 2024, at 2pm: “Juneteenth: Honoring the Black Freedom Struggle” by Taylor Stewart from Oregon Remembrance Project Hosted in the Umpqua Hall @ Southwestern Oregon Community College Campus 1988 Newmark Ave, Coos Bay, OR 97420. Wednesday, June 19th, 2024, from 5pm-7:30pm: African Drumming with Gansango Music and Dance Company during the first hour & Our Annual Family Reunion reception to follow with an essay Honoring Mr. Alonzo Tucker by Aya Koffi-Plebou along with a song by Zaria Hamilton and a History of Family Reunions Talk with FREE Food @ Black Market Gourmet at 495 Central Ave, Coos Bay, 97420. Friday, June 21st 2024 from 7pm-9:30pm: FREE Screening of The Black Panther @ The Egyptian Theater 229 South Broadway, Coos Bay OR 97420. BANDON – Thursday June 20th, 2024, 11am-2pm: African Drumming with Gansango Music and Dance Company & Poetry by William Ferrer @ The Sprague Theater, light refreshments provided 1202 11th St SW, Bandon, OR 97411. BROOKINGS – Tuesday June 18th 2024, 6pm-8:30pm: FREE screening of The Black Panther @ Redwood Theater 621 Chetco Ave, Brookings, OR 97415. Thursday June 20th, 2024, 4pm-6pm: African Drumming with Gansango Music and Dance Company & “Black Oregon Pioneers” A presentation by Carolyn Acker at Chetco Public Library 405 Alder St, Brookings, OR 97415. This event is graciously being sponsored by; Advanced Health, Black Market Gourmet, Chetco Community Public Library, City of Coos Bay, Coos Bay Public Library, Coos Head Food Co-op, Coos History Museum, Human Rights Advocates of Coos County, Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Remembrance Project, Southwestern Oregon Community College. The South Coast Equity Coalition is a Regional Health Equity Coalition (RHEC). We are an autonomous, community-driven, and cross-sector group. We work by building on the inherent strengths of local communities to meaningfully involve them in identifying sustainable, long- term, policy, system and environmental solutions to increase health equity for communities of color, and those living at the intersection of race/ethnicity and other marginalized identities. For more information about the Juneteenth Celebration and the South Coast Equity Coalition, visit southcoastequity.org.
