Photos: Anchorage celebrates Juneteenth with festivities at Northway Mall

Updated: June 20, 2021 Published: June 20, 2021

Gail Jackson is framed in a tambourine as she leads a drum circle at the Northway Mall in Anchorage on Saturday, June 19, 2021. (Bob Hallinen photo)

Hundreds of people gathered for the Juneteenth Citywide Celebration at the Northway Mall in East Anchorage on Saturday. Juneteenth — commemorating June 19, 1865, the day news of their freedom reached enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy surrendered — was made a federal holiday this week.

[As celebrations ring out, organizers seek to build on Juneteenth momentum in push for equality]

Signs with the names of Black people killed by the police in the U.S. line the way to a drum circle, led by Gail Jackson, at the Juneteenth Celebration. (Bob Hallinen photo)

Ed Wesley speaks about the proud history of Black people in the United States and Alaska at the Juneteenth Celebration at the Northway Mall. (Bob Hallinen photo)

Dancers move to the music at the Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday. (Bob Hallinen photo)

David (who only gave his first name) shows the T-shirt he got from the UAA Student Life Leadership booth at the Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday. (Bob Hallinen photo)

Bob Hallinen

Bob Hallinen has been a photojournalist in Alaska since the 1980s and has traveled extensively all over the state. He retired from the ADN in November 2018 after 33 years at the newspaper.