Atlantic City, N.J. -- The Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University will partner with the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey for its second annual Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20. Both days will feature free programming from noon to 5 p.m.

Friday’s activities will be led by Brian Jackson, Stockton’s vice president for Community Engagement, and will include speeches by Yolanda Melville, the director of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, Kaleem Shabazz, the president of the Atlantic City chapter of the NAACP, and storyteller and motivational speaker Michelle Washington Wilson.

Saturday’s keynote speaker is the Rev. David Mallory of the First Baptist Church of Richland. That will be followed by museum founder Ralph Hunter Sr. paying tribute to local businesswoman and philanthropist Rita Mack and former Press of Atlantic City entertainment reporter Vincent Jackson. Also, descendants of individuals involved in the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case will speak.

Both days will feature food, vendors and immersive exhibits charting the history of Juneteenth and slavery.

“We celebrate Juneteenth knowing that, in Fannie Lou Hamer's words, 'Nobody's free until everybody's free,'” Hunter said. “Even though emancipation came late to the former enslaved of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, it finally echoed from shore to shore that slavery had been abolished throughout this nation.”

The Noyes Arts Garage is located at 2200 Fairmount Ave., in Atlantic City. For more information, call 609-626-3805.

For more information on the museum, contact Hunter at rhunter@aahmsnj.org or 609-892-0439.