Race & Equity

A skyline that sprouts new buildings at a dizzying pace. Neighborhoods dotted with new breweries and renovated mills. Thousands of new apartments springing up beside light rail lines. The signs of Charlotte’s booming prosperity are everywhere. But that prosperity isn’t spread evenly. And from Charlotte’s “corridors of opportunity,” it can seem a long way off, more like a distant promise than the city’s reality.

Juneteenth celebration in Charlotte's West End is about 'bringing community together'

WFAE | By Nick de la Canal

Published June 16, 2023 at 1:58 PM EDT

The 2022 Juneteenth Celebration in Charlotte's historic West End featured live performers, music and food.

People in Charlotte and beyond are celebrating Juneteenth this weekend, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War.

It's been celebrated for decades by Black Americans, and with an annual festival in east Charlotte since the late 1990s, but it was only three years ago that a Juneteenth festival was established west of uptown on Beatties Ford Road.

Alesha Brown is that festival's founder. She's also the executive director of the nonprofit For The Struggle.

Brown joined WFAE's Nick de la Canal to talk about why she wanted to bring a Juneteenth festival to the city's historic West End, and what she's looking forward to at this year's event.

The Juneteenth Celebration in Charlotte's historic West End will take place on Saturday, June 17, from 2 - 6 p.m. on Senior Drive in front of West Charlotte High School.

Listen to their whole conversation here.

Juneteenth in Charlotte

Alesha Brown of For The Struggle talks about the meaning of Juneteenth in a time of ongoing racial tensions in the U.S., and about the joy the holiday brings.