How Freedom Came to Rockville

Peerless Rockville is pleased to partner with Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church at their Juneteenth Fest.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when word of the Emancipation Proclamation and enforcement via Union Troops arrived in Texas, ordering the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved Black Texans. Juneteenth is now observed annually on June 19, celebrating emancipation across the nation.

Maryland was a state that practiced slavery but did not secede from the Union. Enslaved people here faced unique circumstances as President Lincoln sought to keep the loyalty of slave-holding Unionists while waging war against the Confederacy and the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply here.

Join Peerless Rockville, Chiquita Sorrels, the official historian of the Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant UM Church, Katherine Rogers, Peerless Rockville Collections Manager, and Miriam Bunow, Peerless Rockville Education & Outreach Manager, as we celebrate Juneteenth at the historic 190-year-old Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant UM Church and learn about the various paths to freedom taken by enslaved Marylanders before nationwide emancipation, and the U.S. Colored Troops from Rockville who were in Texas for the first Juneteenth.

Jerusalem - Mt. Pleasant UM Church's Juneteenth festival will include food truck and baked good sales, and fun and games for all ages.

Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation Ltd. is supported in part by a grant from the City of Rockville and funding from the Montgomery County Government and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County.