CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH ON JUNE 18 AT SOUL & SPIRIT AT THE ALBANY MUSEUM OF ART

The Albany Museum of Art will celebrate Juneteenth with its 2nd annual Soul & Spirit: A Juneteenth Evening on Thursday, June 18. The popular Black history trivia contest will return, along with local vendors. The event for adults 21 and older is from 6 pm to 8 pm.

“As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation in a few weeks, it’s also important to celebrate the 160th anniversary of America’s longest-observed African-American holiday, one that commemorates the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation,” AMA Curator of African Collections and African Diasporic Art Sidney Pettice said. “There is no better way to honor the traditions of this holiday than with a celebration of Black art, history, and culture.”

Juneteenth is a portmanteau of June and nineteen, commemorating June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. Beginning as church and community gatherings in Texas, Juneteenth expanded to other states. It was formally recognized by all states by 1979, and Congress made June 19 an official federal holiday—Juneteenth National Independence Day—in 2021.

DJ MarlyMar will provide the soundtrack for the event. Vendors in the lobby and Willson Auditorium will include Smokin Peace, Better Way Grocers, Q’s Cakes, Genotra’s Gems, and Blue Buzz Bling Jewelry. There will also be a beer-and-wine bar. The deadline for vendor registration is June 15, and interested businesses should email Pettice at sidney.pettice@albanymuseum.com.

“Our friends from the Dougherty County Public Library and the South Georgia Archives at Thronateeska Heritage Center will also be here with tips and ideas on tracking family history,” AMA Director of Education and Public Programming Annie Van Oteghem said.

Some of that history will be in the galleries during the event. Sense of Place in the East Gallery connects Albany’s history with visual art by highlighting locations listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book from 1937 to 1945. It includes artifacts from the period, as well as images of the locations as they look today, photographed by Albany photographer Adrian Jenkins.

Moments in the Good Life City in the Hodges Gallery presents an oral history project created through a partnership between the Albany Museum of Art and the South Georgia Archives at the Thronateeska Heritage Center. Billye Sands, of BillYAY Films, filmed the interviews with Patricia Chatmon Perryman, Pamela Chatmon Washington, Michael Harper, Angelia Gibson Jones, and Adrian Jenkins. Those interviews are presented on-screen in the Hodges Gallery, and the recordings will be permanently housed in the South Georgia Archives.

In the Haley Gallery is an exhibition by a contemporary Black artist, Vitus Shell. The Louisiana artist’s Power of Sight is his first solo exhibition in Georgia and features works from his Gold Everything Series. Each subject is shrouded in and surrounded by classic golden motifs and filigree, as in historic European portraiture.

The Black history trivia contest will take place amid Shell’s artwork in the Haley Gallery. “The contest was a hit with those who attended last year,” Pettice said. “Teams of four can win prizes like gift cards for Bee Smoothie, Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell exhibition catalogs and Jillian Marie Browning Blue Magic prints, and AMA cups and t-shirts.”

Admission to Soul & Spirit is $5, or $10 for admission with two drink tickets. Additional drink tickets can be purchased for $5 each. Tickets can be purchased on the link at https://www.albanymuseum.com/event/soul-spirit-2026/.

“We hope everyone will come out and help us recognize this important date in American history in a way that lifts the spirit and honors traditions of Juneteenth,” Pettice said.

 AMA EXHIBITIONS

• Vitus Shell: Power of Sight is May 27-Aug 29, 2026, in the Haley Gallery.
• Sense of Place: Green Book Sites in Albany, GA is May 27-Aug 29, 2026, in the East Gallery.
• Moments in The Good Life City: An Oral History of Albany, GA is May 27-Aug 29, 2026, in the Hodges Gallery.
• The Middle Way, works by Rylan Steele, is May 27-Aug 29, 2026, in the McCormack Gallery.
• The Home of Birds, works by Jessica Ambadipudi, is May 27-Aug 29, 2026, in the West Gallery.

ABOUT THE ALBANY MUSEUM OF ART

The Albany Museum of Art is located at 311 Meadowlark Drive in Albany, Ga., adjacent to Albany State University West Campus, just off Gillionville Road. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Albany Museum of Art is open to the public 10 am-5 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays.  Admission is free.

For more information about the AMA please visit our website at www.albanymuseum.com or call 229.439.8400. Be sure to follow AlbanyMuseumOfArt on Facebook and AlbanyMuseum on Instagram.