PITTSFIELD — For Brendan Green, Sunday’s Juneteenth celebration at Durant Park was about more than just basketball.

“This is one of the best-run tournaments,” he said as he waited for his time on the court. “And the togetherness, the community. Having a day together as one.”

Green was one of 60 players, ranging from elementary school children to adults, who took part in the five-on-five tournament.

Youths participate in a 5-on-5 basketball tournament during a Juneteenth celebration at Durant Park in Pittsfield on Sunday.

It might have been the perfect day to play ball — and for the wider celebration: Sunny skies, a light breeze and temperatures in the 70s.

On the main stage, there was a rotating series of events, starting with a reading of Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” a searing indictment of slavery in the United States. People of all ages took turns reading sections of the speech, which Douglass delivered on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y.

Juneteenth, also known as Black Independence Day, is a federal holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved people in the United States finally learned of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Pittsfield's Juneteenth celebration kicked off with a flag raising at City Hall on Sunday morning.

The band Sample the Cat played original songs and covers. Singer Kendrah Bellevue packed every note with emotion. On a sound check, she turned heads with a powerful rendition of “Down by the Riverside.” As her final piece, she sang “Crazy,” by the duo Gnarls Barkley.

Licensed hair stylist Sasha K, who declined to give her last name, spent time creating hairstyles in one of many booths at the park.

“I do all natural styles,” she said. “I’m a braider.”

She’s currently operating out of Uplift Barber Shop and hopes to find her own space in Pittsfield. She said her ancestors were enslaved.

“This day means a lot to me,” she said. “I love how they made it a celebration for us to get together and celebrate.”

Avery Lewis, 9, sings a cappella during a Juneteenth celebration at Durant Park in Pittsfield on Sunday.

The morning started with the raising of the Juneteenth flag at Pittsfield City Hall and a proclamation from Mayor Peter Marchetti, read by Peter White, vice president of Pittsfield City Council.

Pittsfield's Juneteenth celebration kicked off with a flag raising at City Hall on Sunday morning.

Kamaar Taliafero, who serves on the executive committee of the Berkshire NAACP, then read William Lloyd Garrison’s “No Compromise With the Evil of Slavery.”

“Convince me that one man may rightfully make another man his slave, and I will no longer subscribe to the Declaration of Independence,” Lloyd Garrison wrote.

Taliafero said he likes this piece and reads it each year.

“Beyond allyship,” he said, “It’s about solidarity.”

He appreciates that Lloyd Garrison was born in Massachusetts.

Will Singleton was the second reader. He’s a past president of the NAACP and a retired educator.

“Did I say happy Father’s Day?” he said. “For those of you who are not fathers, I had not planned to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Respectfully, I hope you will consider becoming mentors because our young people need mentoring desperately, and I use that word advisedly.”

Singleton told The Eagle that he was asked to mentor a young man about eight years ago.

“And I was so glad I did,” he said. “I mentored him from the time he was in sixth grade until he graduated from Taconic. And I think given the way things are today in our society for so many young people, I think it’s important for men who may not be fathers, or even men who are fathers, for them to mentor these young boys, these young men, to help them become responsible men and hopefully fathers who are able to raise their own children the right way.”

The program ended with the awarding of scholarships by the Berkshire County NAACP to graduates attending two- or four-year colleges.

The basketball tournament was organized by Dashine Moore, who founded Beat the Streets 413, a nonprofit youth basketball program.

“I created the program during COVID,” Moore said. “I invented it because a lot of the kids were getting into trouble.

“I was in trouble one time myself,” Moore said. “So when I came home from prison, I focused on the kids, keeping the kids out of trouble, trying to get them some structure — go the right way.”