The Independence of the Cuban Islands and the Juneteenth Gala: A Conversation with Reese, Collins, and the State of the Art
My father and his friends had a lot of fun at the barbecue. They used meats that you could know, but they also have some meats that no one can tell you from, and you don’t want to ask too many questions about what that meat was.
The city will host a reading, historic march and Juneteenth Gala this year, all in honor of General Order No. 3, which was enacted to enforce the freedom of slaves.
She recalled her grandfather standing on a street corner with a megaphone yelling: “Galveston’s only known for two things: hurricanes and Juneteenth. Why don’t you celebrate Juneteenth?”
As part of the celebrations, a recent tradition for Reese and her family is a “freedom tour” of the island, including the historic Menard House, where her ancestors spent much of their lives enslaved.
“The nation is kind of playing catchup,” she said. She said she was aware of how important Juneteenth is and how much it means to her, and that the dark chapter of slavery is often swept under the rug.
It’s Collins’ favorite memory of Juneteenth as a kid, and it includes reenactments of the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation and “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” as the family grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on the land where Black people were once held in bondage.
She still has fond memories of her home in Texas but she is now in Florida working on her degree and she said that she always carries the message of Juneteenth with her.
I’ve lived all over the country. No matter where I go, I will honor and remember my ancestors and their participation in the struggle for freedom, and carry that history with me.
Miss Juneteenth Pageant: A Celebration of Black History and Civil Rights in the Galveston, TX, United States. (via WUGA)
Collins says that her mother would tell her stories about big gatherings in the park where people would have roasted meats.
Juneteenth is celebrated by Americans for the fourth year in a row. But for many families in Galveston, Texas, where the holiday originated, celebrations have been a mainstay for generations.
June 19th commemorates the fall of slavery in Galveston in 1865 — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation ordered the liberation of Black people held in the Confederacy.
“I have newspaper records of my great-grandfather — who was by this time, in 1885, he would have been 25 years old — and he was given the role of reading the Emancipation Proclamation at that celebration,” said 67-year-old Roy Collins.
The Miss Juneteenth pageant took place in Athens this week. Seventeen young Black women wowed the audience with their talents, evening gowns and personalities. Regan Jones, a 10-year-old with an impressive step routine, took home the crown. (via WUGA)
The First Day of Freedom: When Opal Lee’s House was Vandalized and Destroyed, and When She Left, It Revisited
This week, activist Opal Lee received keys to a new house built on the same plot of land where her family’s home once stood. It’s been more than eight decades since it was vandalized and destroyed. Trinity Habitat for Humanity, Texas Capital and HistoryMaker Homes partnered to build the house and give it to Lee. (via KERA)
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You can see it. It commemorates the day federal troops arrived to enforce The Emancipation Proclamation in Texas some two years after it was issued. More broadly, though, it celebrates the end of chattel slavery. I think it celebrates the start of true freedom because it shows how oppression can lead to the beginning of true freedom. Everyone who has ever been in a toxic relationship knows that.