Juneteenth in Waller County 2026!
Ten Community and Academic Partners Unite to Celebrate Juneteenth 2026 Across Prairie View and Hempstead
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (June 8, 2026) — Ten academic, cultural, religious, civic, and community organizations will come together June 16–20 to present one of the largest collaborative Juneteenth commemorations in Waller County history. Through exhibitions, public programs, community celebrations, historic preservation initiatives, and scholarly presentations, the partnership will honor the enduring legacy of emancipation while highlighting the people, institutions, and historic places that continue to shape African American life in Texas.
The 2026 Juneteenth observance is a collaborative effort involving the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture (TIPHC), Prairie View A&M University’s Division of Social Sciences, the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab, the East Texas Historical Association, the Waller County Historical Society, the City of Prairie View African American Heritage Commission, the Texas Chapter of the Association of Gravestone Studies, Greater St. Peter’s Baptist Church, Bethlehem United Methodist Church, and Waller County Precinct 3. Together, these organizations represent a shared commitment to public history, community memory, historic preservation, education, and civic engagement.
On June 16, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture (TIPHC) will launch its Pre-Juneteenth Celebration with a public Story Slam and exhibit reception inside PVAMU’s award-winning Nathelyne Archie-Kennedy Building, a striking 105,000-square-foot facility that houses both TIPHC and the School of Architecture. Designed as a dynamic environment for creativity, collaboration, and interdisciplinary learning, the building itself reflects the university’s commitment to innovation, preservation, and public engagement.
The centerpiece of the pre-celebration is The Freedom to Heal: Juneteenth and Texas’ Most Determined Medical Legacies, 1865–1976, a new exhibition curated by TIPHC Director Lauren Kelley. Her interpretive experience challenges visitors to view Juneteenth as more than the end of slavery; rather, it was the beginning of a generations-long struggle to secure the fundamental rights to health, education, opportunity, and human dignity. Drawing upon photographs, archival records, and personal stories, Kelley crafts an experience that is both deeply relatable and profoundly moving, inviting reflection from anyone who has ever hoped to build a better future for themselves and their children.
Kelley’s particular gift as a curator lies in her ability to uncover the human stories that connect freedom, resilience, and community transformation. She introduces visitors to remarkable physicians, nurses, educators, hospital leaders, and grassroots advocates who refused to accept the limitations imposed by segregation and systemic exclusion. Yet her greatest achievement is revealing the creativity, determination, and collective effort required to build institutions, expand access to care, and train future generations. Through these stories, Kelley reminds us that the promise of Juneteenth has always depended upon ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Their legacy challenges us to continue the work of creating a healthier, more equitable, and more hopeful future for Texas.
The Freedom to Heal helps us understand why Juneteenth remains not only a commemoration of freedom gained, but also a celebration of the generations of African Americans who transformed that freedom into lasting institutions, opportunities, and progress. It’s a fitting prelude to the community celebrations that begin on the morning of June 19, when the Greater St. Peter’s Baptist Church will host its 26th Annual Juneteenth Parade and Celebration in Hempstead, Texas. With family-friendly festivities and guest speaker Waller County Commissioner Kendric Jones, the theme “Pain to Progress” (2 Chronicles 7:14) reminds us that Juneteenth is more than a celebration. It is an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs that transformed a people once denied freedom into generations of leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, pastors, and public servants.
Beginning with a community parade through Hempstead and culminating in a day of fellowship at Hempstead City Park, the 26th Annual Juneteenth Parade and Celebration honors both the history of emancipation and the enduring spirit of community progress. Led by Greater St. Peter’s Baptist Church and Pastor Rev. Fred Thomas III, the event brings together residents of all ages to celebrate a legacy of resilience, faith, and hope that continues to shape Hempstead and Waller County today.
Later that evening, Constable Smith will host Waller County Precinct 3’s 15th Annual Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom, honoring the legacy of emancipation while celebrating the progress, resilience, and achievements of African Americans. Featuring fellowship, food, music, games, and family-friendly activities at the Waller County Community Center in Prairie View, the celebration is located not far from the usual event site—the historic home of the last PVAMU principal and former PVAMU President Edward Bertram Evans at 102 Dorsey Drive. Constable Smith’s event highlights the importance of preserving institutional history and strengthening the bonds that unite the community today. The Precinct 3 Constable’s Office and the City of Prairie View have come together on this national holiday since 2012 to remind us of opportunities to empower and serve our community. In 2026, the City of Prairie View African American Heritage Commission make a pledge to Constable Smith and the residents of this city—for the 2027 Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom, we will be celebrating the addition of the historic home of Dr. Evans to the National Register of Historic Places. It should have been on the list long ago, and we look forward to building on the momentum of the 14 Families historic marker project as well as the forthcoming NRHP nomination for the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, founded in 1869 by formerly enslaved men and women of faith in Hempstead, TX.
The following day, June 20, is perhaps the most anticipated of the entire Juneteenth week of activities. The Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab and the PVAMU Division of Social Sciences will host the 10th New Deal Conference in collaboration with the East Texas Historical Association at the Welcome Center on the PVAMU campus. A special part of this year’s conference is the collaborative efforts of the Waller County Historical Society, the City of Prairie View African American Heritage Commission, and the Association of Gravestone Studies to present “Juneteenth at Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery.”
The day begins with registration, welcoming remarks from East Texas Historical Association Executive Director M. Scott Sosebee and Prairie View A&M University Interim Chair of the Division of Social Sciences Ronald E. Goodwin, and opening comments from New Deal Symposium founder George Cooper. The first session of research papers features presentations examining New Deal-era and twentieth-century history, including convict labor and prison reform during the Great Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project in Texas, and the evolution of jazz.
Following the morning scholarly session, participants will travel by shuttle to Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery for Juneteenth at Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery, highlighted by remarks from Paul Jackson, Assistant Trail Boss of the Prairie View Trail Ride Association. This is the 4th iteration of the program. Since 2022, Prairie View native Pamela Morgan has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the historic cemetery that holds forever close the remains of her ancestor, World War II veteran Milo Wilson, whose military headstone is one of the few grave markers in a burial ground containing the remains of over 150 people. She organized the first Juneteenth celebration at the cemetery in 2022, after she reached out to Junior McKay of the Waller County Historical Society to assist in her efforts to better care for the historical burial ground. At the time, the grass and weeds had grown so high that she could not even find the headstones, which sit in a field just north of the historical marker. McKay put Morgan in touch with T. DeWayne Moore, an Assistant Professor of History at PVAMU, who conducts research about heritage tourism, memorialization, and the resounding impact of resource hoarding on African American cemeteries. Dr. Moore wrote a $20,000 grant to the Summerlee Foundation to complete the geophysical study begun by scholars at Rice University in 2008, and he enlisted dozens of his students to conduct archival research and increase awareness and interest in the cemetery. The 2026 program provides yet another opportunity to engage directly with one of Prairie View’s most significant historic landscapes, and it will also serve as a platform to recognize local people who have made an unusually positive impact on Waller County.
After returning from the cemetery and sharing a catered barbecue lunch, the second session of the New Deal Conference features presentations exploring housing and homeownership under the New Deal, the impact of anti-German discrimination during World War I, and the relationship between Texas politics, race, and federal policy during the Roosevelt administration. The symposium concludes with closing comments from representatives from the 1) Waller County Historical Society (WCHS), 2) the City of Prairie View African American Heritage Commission, 3) the Texas chapter of the Association of Gravestone Studies(AGS), 4) the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL), 5) the Greater St. Peter’s Baptist Church, 6) Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Hempstead, 7) Waller County Precinct 3, 8) the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture (TIPHC), 9) the PVAMU Division of Social Sciences (DSS) and 10) the East Texas Historical Association—bringing together themes of public history, community memory, civil rights, cultural heritage, and the preservation of East Texas history. Through a combination of scholarly research, community engagement, and site-based interpretation, the program connects the history of the New Deal to the broader story of freedom, citizenship, and remembrance commemorated through Juneteenth at Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery on PVAMU’s campus.
The Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL) at Prairie View A&M University advances the preservation, accessibility, and interpretation of African American history through digital preservation, archival processing, scholarly publishing, oral history, and community-engaged public history. As a teaching and research laboratory, WDPL trains students in archival practice, digitization, metadata creation, digital storytelling, and emerging technologies while preserving historically underrepresented voices, communities, and cultural resources.
Through partnerships with community organizations, churches, cemeteries, museums, scholars, and public agencies, WDPL supports the documentation and stewardship of historical collections across Texas and the broader African American diaspora. The lab develops innovative approaches to digital preservation, including large-scale digitization projects, community archives, cemetery documentation, geospatial interpretation, and artificial intelligence-assisted research tools. By combining academic scholarship with public engagement, WDPL promotes the educational, cultural, civic, and social value of preserving historical memory for future generations.
