Manhattan Beach just held its first city-sponsored Juneteenth ceremony, commemorating June 19, 1865, the day on which the last enslaved African American people learned of their freedom.
The Wednesday morning event took place at Bruce’s Beach Park, where the city’s traumatic racial history rooted in the park’s land resurfaced on Juneteenth four years ago.
The morning ceremony opened with a performance of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” followed by remarks from Mayor Joe Franklin.
Former Manhattan Beach mayor Mitch Ward attends the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Asia Bryant-Wilkerson reads her poem during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Tanya Taylor speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach city officials join residents and racial justice activists for the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach city officials join residents and racial justice activists for the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Donné Ward speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach Mayor Joe Franklin speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
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Manhattan Beach Mayor Joe Franklin speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Former Manhattan Beach mayor Mitch Ward attends the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach city officials join residents and racial justice activists for the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Angel Hart sings Lift Every Voice and Sing during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach Chief of Police Rachel Johnson attends the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach City Councilman Richard Montgomery and Mayor Joe Franklin attend the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach city officials join residents and racial justice activists for the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach Chief of Police Rachel Johnson attends the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach Mayor Joe Franklin speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Manhattan Beach city officials join residents and racial justice activists for the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Janet Allen poses for a picture with Mira Costa students after the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Tanya Taylor meet with friends and family after the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Anefertiti Bowman and Denise Minns-Harris sing along during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Tanya Taylor is joined in song by Angel Hart during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Donné Ward, left, Tim Jones, Tanya Taylor, and Asia Bryant-Wilkerson are seated on stage during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Tanya Taylor meet with friends and family after the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
The Faithful Central Bible Church Choir performs during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Anefertiti Bowman and Denise Minns-Harris sing along during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Gina Young, a descendent of former property owner Elisabeth Patterson, during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Gina Young, a descendent of former property owner Elisabeth Patterson, speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Janet Allen speaks during the inaugural Juneteenth ceremony at Bruce’s Beach Park on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
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It’s not the first time Bruce’s Beach Park has hosted a Juneteeth ceremony.
In 2020, activist Kavon Ward held a 50-person gathering at the park to honor the day former enslaved people heard the two-year old news of their freedom and to educate people about the legacy of Willa and Charles Bruce who had once owned seaside land in Manhattan Beach.
The Bruces, a Black couple,in the 1920s, ran a seaside resort for African American people on two parcels below the land that later became the park. Manhattan Beach leadership at the time used eminent domain to take that land, as well as the homes of others, whose properties were on what’s now parkland.
That land was deeded back to descendants of the Bruce family who eventually sold it back to Los Angeles County.
In 2021, activist Allison Hales held a larger Juneteenth celebration at Bruce’s Beach Park. In 2022, a Junteenth celebration was thwarted when the City Council reinforced a 2018 special events policy to deter large-scale events at small parks, including Bruce’s Beach Park.
In April 2023, Manhattan Beach City Council discussed sponsoring a Juneteenth celebration, but decided there wasn’t enough time to plan the event and pushed it off to the following year.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Isla Garraway, who with the city’s Bruce’s Beach Task Force compiled an accurate history of the site, spoke about the Bruce’s legacy and about the meaning and significance of Juneteenth.
There were also remarks by Gina Young, a descendant of Elizabeth Patterson, another Black property owner who had land taken in the eminent domain proceedings; a presentation on “what Juneteenth means to me” by Donné Ward, president of the Mira Costa High School Black Scholars Union; songs by the Faithful Central Bible Church Choir; a “unity begins here” speech by Manhattan Beach resident Tim Jones; a moment of silence honoring “what freedom means today” by Black in Mayberry founder Tanya Taylor; and a reading of an original Juneteenth poem by poet Asia Bryant Wilkerson.
A larger celebration, in partnership with the El Segundo-based Black in Mayberry arts activism organization, is on Saturday, June 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Polliwog Park.
