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Indie Bookstores Celebrate Juneteenth
Printer-friendly versionThis year for Juneteenth, indie bookstores put up displays, posted on social media, held events, and appeared at local celebrations. Here, some of our member stores shared how they celebrated Juneteenth.
Thank you to these stores for sharing their Juneteenth plans with us!
Bookshop at the Bottom
Knoxville, TN
Bookshop at the Bottom is hosting a book sale called The Juneteenth Shelf Sweep.
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Cafe con Libros
Brooklyn, NY
Cafe con Libros is Brooklyn will be closed this Juneteenth to allow their staff to celebrate the holiday!
Houston, TX
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Flint, MI
Comma Bookstore will be hosting a Black Power Mixtape Concert on June 21! The concert will feature The Last Poets and special guest artist Mama Sōl.
Detroit Book City
Detroit, MI
Every year, Detroit Book City hosts a Juneteenth Book Fair! This year's event featured over thirty guest authors!
Mahogany Books
Washington, DC
Mahogany Books debated closing this Juneteenth to allow employees to celebrate the holiday, but ultimately made the decision to remain open.
"Many members of our community near and far truly look to us in these sacred moments to create a space for connection, community, a place to express joy, to heal, to support Black-owned business in a very present way, and remaining opened allowed us to do just that," said owner Ramunda Lark Young. "It allowed us to create intentional programming that focused on community and not capitalism."
Throughout the week of Juneteenth, Mahogany Books hosted a Writing as Liberation workshop with Dr. Khadijah Ali-Coleman (Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County), a Juneteenth Book Swap, as well as a meet and greet with local professors, and an event with author Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Milwaukee, WI
This year, Niche Book Bar is collaborating with America's Black Holocaust Museum to offer a children's storytime on Juneteenth.
Pass Christian, MS
Pass Christian Books teamed up with the New South Players' Guild to offer a June 15 performance of The Colored Museum!
St. Paul, MN
Planting People Growing Justice Bookstore hosted a booth at the annual Do Good Roseville Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 15! This annual celebration featured performers, local organizations and vendors.
The Planting People Growing Justice booth featured J is for Juneteenth — a book written by three young Black writers as part of a collaborative youth writing competition — and shirts celebrating Black history from BLACKLIT.
Las Vegas, NV
On June 15, R.D. Talley Books attended the Annual Juneteenth Festival at the World Market Center in Las Vegas where they sold a selection of merch, artwork, and a selection of books!
Petersburg, VA
Resist Booksellers chose to close the store this Juneteenth to allow employees to celebrate. They also took this opportunity to sponsor other local events in lieu of hosting their own.
Milwaukee, WI
Rooted MKE will be participating in the 53rd annual Milwaukee Juneteenth celebration — a festival that attracted more than 180,000 attendees last year! This year, Rooted MKE will be the featured bookstore and will be debuting their pop up bookstore with two audiobook listening booths and children’s interactive displays.
Boston, MA
Rozzie Bound Co-op attended Boston's Juneteenth celebration on June 15 and gave away 100 free books! The free books were written predominantly by Black authors and spanned all ages and genres. Rozzie also held their own Juneteenth book giveaway, featuring titles like Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (Autographed), Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson (Autographed), Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton, and Our Hidden Conversations by Michele Norris.
Oakland, CA
Sistah Scifi will be celebrating Juneteenth in a few ways! On Juneteenth, owner Isis Asare will be interviewing Rebecca Roanhorse (Mirrored Heavens) as part of the Sistah Scifi Wine Down Wednesday series. The store is also partnering with the Seattle Public Library for a month-long celebration of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower!
SOA Co. Books
Houston, TX
This year for Juneteenth (and for the past three years!) SOA Co. Books partnered with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to host the Juneteenth Liberation Market. The Market typically hosts 30–40 vendors!
Turning Page Bookshop
Goose Creek, SC
This Juneteenth, Turning Page Bookshop will be appearing at their local Juneteenth Youth Summit as well as the Otranto Road Library Juneteenth Market!
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Montclair, NJ
On Friday, June 14, Watchung Booksellers held a Juneteenth Picnic for The Juneteenth Cookbook with authors Alliah Agostini and Chef Taffy Elrod
