Juneteenth is the celebration of African American freedom and achievement and the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. The event dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers, led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Tex., with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of Jan.

From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama will be the theme of the annual Martha’s Vineyard NAACP Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Membership and Awards Brunch, on Jan. 18, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Deon’s restaurant in Oak Bluffs.

Steve Bernier, the Rev. Roger H. Spinney and Tobias Vanderhoop will be presented with outstanding service awards. Troy Small and Randall Jette, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School students, will be guest speakers.

For such a small place, the Island has a surprisingly diverse people — a native tribe, a long-established African American community, waves of Portuguese speakers — and so for its annual Juneteenth celebration, the Martha’s Vineyard NAACP has asked several Islanders to share their interracial experiences here.