MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University is again collaborating with the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center to provide a True Blue presence at the 2024 Juneteenth street festival hosted by Bradley on June 15.

This year’s celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 15, along multiple blocks of South Academy Street, with Bradley Museum serving as the hub at its location at 415 S. Academy St. The event will also include musical and dance performances, activities for children, dozens of craft vendors, displays of art, and food trucks on site for the event, according to a news release from Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department.

MTSU will join other local nonprofit and community organizations with staffed informational tables from the College of Liberal Arts, Albert Gore Research Center and Center for Historic Preservation. 

Monica Smith, assistant to the president for community engagement and inclusion, will share remarks, and MTSU mascot Lightning will also visit to take photos with attendees.

Also, Student Government Association President Michai Mosby is set to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as “the Black national anthem,” and MTSU alumnus and hip-hop artist Tyrone “Tyke T” Stroble is scheduled to performed.

Juneteenth, or “Freedom Day,” is the celebration of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans throughout the former Confederate States of America.

“We are really excited about this year’s event,” said Vonchelle Stembridge, Recreation Facility coordinator and event organizer, in the city release. “We have turned this into a one-day event that is packed full of celebration, fellowship and community.”

Miracle Tayon, a dance and model professional, will host on the main stage in front of the museum with cohost Jordan McCullough, who appeared on NBC’s “The Voice” in 2019. 

There will be two stages with DJs, playing at both, along with participation throughout the day from: 

• Blackman High School JROTC.

• United States Colored Troops reenactor Dravidio.

• Christ Fellowship Chorale.

• Saxophonist Ernest Newsom.

• Praise teams: Angelic Praise Dancers, Rejuvenation, and Redemption.

• Dance teams: Coach Tori and Troops and Shackled Feet.

• Ceron Mays and The Amaysn Band.

• Tramaine Arte’Mis and The Improv 7 Band.

The lineup will also include drummers, special guests, Greek organizations and more, with members of Murfreesboro Fire and Rescue and Murfreesboro Police on hand to assist.

The name Juneteenth, which derives from combining the words “June” and “nineteenth,” recognizes the date when the U.S. Army announced an executive decree in Texas that freed more than 250,000 Black Americans who were the last to learn of their freedom on June 19, 1865.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee did the same at the state level last spring. 

This year’s observance is set for Wednesday, June 19, and MTSU will be closed and no classes held to mark the federal holiday.

Bradley Academy was built in 1806 as the first school in Rutherford County, educating only white males. In 1884, it became the county’s first school for African American students and served children until 1955.

The current structure was built in 1917 and opened as Murfreesboro’s new school for Black students in 1918. Today, the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center is managed by Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department.

For more information about Juneteenth and Bradley Academy, visit https;//murfreesboroparks.com, or contact Stembridge at 615-962-877 or vstembridge@murfreesborotn.gov.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)

— Lynn Caldwell, Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation (lcaldwell@murfreesborotn.gov)