The Willamette Heritage Center, Oregon Black Pioneers and Just Walk Salem Keizer host an annual community history walking tour to celebrate the Juneteenth Holiday. The vision for this event, which started in 2023, was to bring people together to walk as a community and follow in the footsteps of local families whose lives were impacted by slavery and emancipation. The walk tells these families’ stories by visiting the physical locations in which they lived, worked, worshiped, and commemorated the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation.

You can join a guided walk. Or go at your own pace on a self-guided tour. Pick up a brochure at the Willamette Heritage Center between 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. or, you can download and print a map.