Juneteenth in Key West

Celebrating Freedom and Honoring History

By Beth Baker

Key West Commissioner Aaron Costillo and Key West Poet Laureate Arida Wright. Photographer Rob O'Neal, for the Key Citizen

Some 50 people gathered in the City Hall in Key West, Florida, on Juneteenth to celebrate freedom and to honor their rich history. Hosted by the City Commissioners, the program was organized by political leaders and community activists in Bahama Village, the town’s historic Black community. 

The mood was both determined and joyful, with all made to feel welcome. Emcee Mia Castillo urged the audience to remember and learn from the past.  She gave a special tribute to the elders who continue to make change.  “As long as you can take a breath, you can help make change,” she said.  At the same time, she called on the older generation to share their wisdom and to pass the torch to young people.

Monroe County historian Corey Malcom told the story of the first freedom celebration in Key West, held in 1863 after the Emancipation Proclamation.  Although Florida was part of the Confederacy, Key West was controlled by federal troops who blockaded the Gulf of Mexico from Confederate ships. Once word got out that President Lincoln had freed enslaved people in Southern states, the Black community held a celebratory parade through town. It was led by a man who walked with a limp, the result of an injury he inflicted upon himself to lessen his value as a slave. Some white pro-Confederate citizens threw stones, but they failed to stop the celebration which continued into the night.

The most moving part of this year’s ceremony was poetry read by two poets who live in Bahama Village. The Key West Poet Laureate Arida Wright emotionally shared through her poem how her husband was taken by ICE and now has a monitor locked to his leg, comparing that to the shackling of enslaved people. 

“As long as he is wearing an ankle monitor, I am wearing a monitor,” she said, and “as long as he is not free, none of us are free.”

The audience rose and sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, and Mayor Danise Henriquez issued a proclamation honoring Juneteenth 2026, as a day for all the residents of Key West to celebrate. 

Beth Baker is a member of MoCoLMP's Steering Committee and one of the founders of MoCoLMP.