10:00 AM Born Here, Freed Here: The Emancipation of Booker T. Washington
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Join a park guide for a 45-minute walking tour of the site where Booker T. Washington was born and freed at the age of 9. Learn about Washington’s enslaved childhood on the Burroughs plantation and how the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation here in 1865 signified a new birth of freedom for him and his family.
11:00 AM Heirloom Garden Open House
Starting Location: Heirloom Garden
Join park volunteers in the Heirloom Garden and learn about subsistence agriculture on the Burroughs plantation during this hour-long open house event. See vegetables that Washington’s mother Jane would have used as plantation cook.
12:00 PM Agents of Emancipation: U.S. Colored Troops and their Fight for Freedom
Starting Location: Visitor Center Auditorium
Join park ranger Chris Bingham for this 45-minute presentation to learn about the approximately 5,000 United States Colored Troops who were present at the Battle of Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, and how their efforts helped secure freedom for nine-year-old Booker T. Washington.
1:00 PM Standing on the Site of Freedom
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Stand on the spot where Booker T. Washington and his family first gained their freedom 161 years ago and learn about how that moment marked the day for which his mother Jane “had been so long praying.”
2:00 PM Celebrating Emancipation: From Freedom Day to Juneteenth
Starting Location: Visitor Center Auditorium
Join park ranger Abbi Smithmyer for a 45-minute program discussing how U.S. General Grant’s victory at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, became enshrined as “Freedom Day” for African Americans like Booker T. Washington, and learn about why Juneteenth transformed from a regional holiday to one that marks freedom nationally.
3:00 PM Born Here, Freed Here: The Emancipation of Booker T. Washington
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Join a park guide for a 45-minute walking tour of the site where Booker T. Washington was born and freed at the age of 9. Learn about Washington’s enslaved childhood on the Burroughs plantation and how the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation here in 1865 signified a new birth of freedom for him and his family.
4:00 PM Sing the Old Songs: African Origins of the Banjo
Starting Location: Tent outside Visitor Center
In his essay “Sing the Old Songs,” Booker T. Washington noted that the most original product the Black race gave to America was the “beautiful, weird, quaint, sweet melodies” that expressed the anguish, joy, hopes, burdens, faith, and “trials of our forefathers who wore the yoke of slavery.” Join park ranger David Wooldridge for his discussion and performance of the African-rooted banjo and its deep ties to Washington’s Piedmont region.
6:00 PM History Hike at Sunset: Emancipation and Reconstruction
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Join park ranger Simeon Klepac for a 90-minute, 1.5 miles hike along the Jack-O’Lantern Branch Trail and learn about the lives of those emancipated on the Burroughs plantation. Hear about the opportunities and obstacles these men, women, and children faced in the years following emancipation. Visitors are recommended to bring a water bottle and be prepared to hike over moderately difficult terrain.
11:00 AM-4:00 PM Celebration of Freedom Gospel Concert
Bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the day-long Celebration of Freedom Gospel Concert. Performers include Michael Boone, Sonny Brown Xperience, The Napper Singers, Perkins & EnVision, Larnell Starkey & The Spiritual Seven Gospel Singers, Pastor Milton Hardy Jr., and the Joy Bells.
Food vendors and family-friendly activities will also be available throughout the day.
10:00 AM Born Here, Freed Here: The Emancipation of Booker T. Washington
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Join a park guide for a 45-minute walking tour of the site where Booker T. Washington was born and freed at the age of 9. Learn about Washington’s enslaved childhood on the Burroughs plantation and how the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation here in 1865 signified a new birth of freedom for him and his family.
11:00 AM Heirloom Garden Open House
Starting Location: Heirloom Garden
Join park volunteers in the Heirloom Garden and learn about subsistence agriculture on the Burroughs plantation during this hour-long open house event. See vegetables that Washington’s mother Jane would have used as plantation cook.
12:00 PM Celebrating Emancipation: From Freedom Day to Juneteenth
Starting Location: Visitor Center Auditorium
Join park ranger Abbi Smithmyer for a 45-minute program discussing how U.S. General Grant’s victory at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, became enshrined as “Freedom Day” for African Americans like Booker T. Washington, and learn about why Juneteenth transformed from a regional holiday to one that marks freedom nationally.
1:00 PM Bridging the Centuries: Archeological Investigations at Booker T. Washington National Monument
Starting Location: Visitor Center Auditorium
What does archaeology reveal about this park’s historic landscape of slavery, emancipation, and education? Join archaeologist Zachary Andrews as he reveals what was found during the 2026 archaeological survey.
2:00 PM Born Here, Freed Here: The Emancipation of Booker T. Washington
Starting Location: Visitor Center Back Porch
Join a park guide for a 45-minute walking tour of the site where Booker T. Washington was born and freed at the age of 9. Learn about Washington’s enslaved childhood on the Burroughs plantation and how the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation here in 1865 signified a new birth of freedom for him and his family.
