In 1945, Clara Peoples started a tradition in the cafeteria of the Kaiser Shipyards in Portland. With permission from supervisors, she announced to her co-workers that they would celebrate Juneteenth at lunchtime. They had 15 minutes to do so. Since then, the Juneteenth celebration has grown to include a parade, the Miss Juneteenth Oregon pageant and the 8 Seconds Rodeo.
On Saturday, June 21, the Clara Peoples Freedom Trail Parade will begin at King School at 11 a.m. Participants will walk about two miles on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. to Lewis Albina Park. Festivities take place all day.
“The color of Juneteenth is red, the food color is red; a strawberry drink, everything barbecued from ribs to chicken to burgers,” Heather Baker, Juneteenth Oregon media relations director, said. “There will be lots of soul food like fried chicken, yams, macaroni and cheese, red velvet cake. Everything red. The Pan African colors: black for the people, green for the land and red for the blood that was shed. It represents the pain and struggle.”
History of Juneteenth in Oregon and the Clara Peoples Freedom Trail Parade
Growing up in Oklahoma, Clara Peoples always celebrated Juneteenth. When she moved to Portland, she was surprised that people didn’t know about the holiday here.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved people in the United States. But many in the South hid that information from people they enslaved. It took almost two years for all formerly enslaved people to finally be free. On June 19, 1865, union troops enforced that freedom in Texas. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, became a federal holiday in 2021.
After starting the lunchtime celebration with her coworkers, Peoples collaborated with educator and community leader Oralee Green to organize Juneteenth celebrations at King School, Jefferson High School and other places. In 1972, they started Portland’s first Juneteenth parade and public celebration. That’s when the city took notice and began to recognize the holiday. In 2022, the Oregon Legislature signed a bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday.
This year, at Lewis Albina Park, local artists take the spotlight. The headliner is local jazz and soul singer Tahirah Memory, known throughout the country for her stunning vocals. Oregon Music Hall of Fame Marlin Early, aka Versatil, will entertain with his popular R&B band. A Black-owned theater company will present a skit related to Juneteenth.
“When I look at photos of Juneteenth in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they’re all dressed in their Sunday best,” Baker said. “The reason for that is because when they were slaves they weren’t allowed to wear nice clothing. They had to wear tattered, torn clothing. So at the original Juneteenth they would get really fancy and celebrate a picnic in their best clothes. But it was a way of showing their freedom of expression, their freedom of dress.”
Miss Juneteenth program
Girls ages 6 to 19 years old will participate in the Miss Juneteenth Oregon Program founded by Janelle Jack, granddaughter of Clara Peoples. Through this program, girls develop confidence and have a chance to compete for a college scholarship. One of the older girls will be crowned Miss Juneteenth Oregon in a pageant on June 21.
“We follow the school calendar year so we start in September and end in June and we meet with them two Saturdays a month,” Baker said. “We teach them, first of all, sisterhood. We teach them to love the skin that they’re in.”
Resources from donations and grants are put to use with a Lego robotics program and a camping trip. One program coordinator is a nurse who teaches healthy habits and they hope to add a CPR component. In addition to team-building activities, the girls take part in community service and giving to others around the holidays.
“The program is the meat and potatoes and the pageant is dessert,” Baker said. “Some girls start out shy and don’t want to talk and by the end of the program, they’re leading meetings. We can see visually how we’re affecting them positively and giving them confidence. The pageant winner gets a scholarship for college and that varies based on what our donations are, and sponsorship.”
8 Seconds Rodeo
“Some guys are born with a hoofprint on their heart,” according to Ivan McClellan, founder and CEO of the 8 Seconds Rodeo. The rodeo, founded in 2023, upholds the legacy of Black cowboys and cowgirls throughout Oregon. More than 8,000 people are expected to attend this year at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, June 15. The event is sold out.
Eight seconds is longer than it sounds while riding with one hand in the air and the other on a rope around the belly of a bull. Participants ride bareback and try to stay on a bucking bronco or bull for eight seconds.
“You win money, get hurt, go home with nothing,” McClellan said. “Anything can happen in that amount of time. Most can’t do it. Most ride for 30% of eight seconds, which is good but 60% is the best in the world.”
For fast-paced barrel racing, women ride horses between 40 and 50 miles per hour around barrels without touching them. The winner can be determined by thousandths of a second.
Adults aren’t the only ones who compete in the rodeo. Kids up to 6 years old and under 50 pounds ride sheep in the Mutton Busting event, with the winner raking in $50. Staying on the sheep is a challenge.
“My son Ishmael McClellan won last year at 6 years old,” McClellan said. “He prepared by holding onto me and I’d try to shake him off my body. And we did pushups.”
The rodeo will see 30 participants this year: 10 barrel racers, 10 to 12 bull riders and between five and seven bronco riders. Athletes will compete for $60,000 in prize money.
“It’s just a great day to come together as a community, be around friends and have a great time,” McClellan said. “The show starts at 7 p.m., but people get there at 3 (p.m.), get food, ride the mechanical bull, do line dancing. Cowboys teach roping with a steer dummy to learn how to swing and catch something. We honor Juneteenth, commemorate the day and talk about historical figures in the West.”
The rodeo is a time to honor past heroes with stories and images. Jesse Stahl, born in 1879, was a saddle bronco rider, inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. George Fletcher, born in 1890, was a celebrated rodeo champion and cowboy from Oregon. He was known for riding a bronco while facing backward.
In 1866, Congress created Black peace-time regiments known as Buffalo Soldiers. This year, the rodeo will honor Cathay Williams, born around 1844 and the first Black woman in the armed forces. Williams dressed like a man for two years until she was outed.
Oregon’s big star today is Tank Adams, a bull rider who rides horses bareback. He whips the crowd into a frenzy and is a favorite of the 8 Seconds Rodeo.
8 Seconds Rodeo offers bull riding and bareback riding clinics in Oregon. Professionals instruct young rodeo athletes at no cost to develop skills and build their futures.
Making Clara Peoples proud
Clara Peoples’ descendants carry on her legacy and give opportunities to future Black Portlanders to honor the importance of freedom.
“There was a ceremony that was held, the national organization came and they proclaimed her the mother of Juneteenth,” Baker said. “It’s so wonderful for us that it’s our own state, where the nationally recognized mother of Juneteenth originates from. Her granddaughter Jenelle Jack, her second granddaughter Jennifer Robinson and her daughter Marcia Peoples-Jackson — they are carrying on her legacy. They are all operators on our board.”
Peoples’ granddaughter reflected on what the mother of Juneteenth would think today.
“My grandmother was all about community and a huge community advocate,” Jack said. “If she was here today to see how much Juneteenth has grown in Oregon, and becoming a state and federal holiday, her heart would be full. That was her main goal, to bring awareness about Juneteenth and to know why we celebrate it. She would be all smiles to know all her hard work has paid off to see how many different celebrations are going on and how many people know what Juneteenth is now.”
Baker also believes Peoples would be very proud today of what Juneteenth celebrations in Portland have become.
“She was a dynamo,” Baker said. “She was the lady in the neighborhood who would go to different vendors and get their day-old food and donate it. The community could come to her house and get food. She did so many wonderful things for the community.”
When Baker joined Juneteenth Oregon in 2016, the parade had about 200 people. Now, between 800 and 900 people typically join, with over 1,000 two years ago.
“It has grown by leaps and bounds and I’ll be perfectly honest with you, a lot of it is due to President Trump’s first administration,” Baker said. “When he was running to get reelected the first time he wanted to hold his first rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19. That was a double stab in the back for us because Tulsa is where Black Wall Street was present and burned down by some unscrupulous white people. And so that location was not okay and then he selected to do it on June 19. As a result of that, the country outroared and Juneteenth started becoming a household name.”
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This article appears in June 11, 2025.