Participate in Juneteenth!
Go to the Official Juneteenth Parade & Festival website for all the necessary information.
More about Rosewood Park
In 1907, the Austin Emancipation Association purchased Emancipation Park, creating a dedicated space for Black Austinites to celebrate Juneteenth and gather as a community.
Wheeler’s Grove (now Eastwoods Park) also hosted early Juneteenth celebrations.
Established in 1929, Rosewood Park became Austin’s first public park for African Americans, following the city’s 1928 segregation plan. It replaced Emancipation Park, which was seized in 1938 to create Rosewood Courts, the first public housing project for African Americans in the United States.
Rosewood Park grew over the decades, with the addition of a recreation center in 1944 (later renamed the Delores Duffie Recreation Center), the Doris Miller Auditorium in 1942 (a WWII servicemen’s recreation hall and later a key stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit), and the Henry Green Madison Cabin (built in 1863 by Austin’s first Black city councilman and relocated to the park in 1973). Today, Rosewood Park remains a vital gathering space and a cultural landmark.