DALAS (AP) – After Opal Lee took hundreds on a walk through his hometown of Texas to celebrate this weekend, June 16, the 95-year-old black woman who helped make the holiday a national award. he said it was important for people to learn the story behind it.
“We need to know so that people can be cured of this and never let it happen again,” said Lee, whose 2 1/2 mile (4 km) walk through Fort Worth symbolizes 2 1/2 years. needed after President Abraham The Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation puts an end to slavery in the southern states to free enslaved people in Texas.
A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 12 the nation’s 12th federal holiday, people in the United States gathered for events filled with music, food and fireworks. The celebrations also focused on studying history and dealing with racial differences. Many blacks celebrated the day just before any official recognition.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, marks the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for enslaved people in the state, two months after the Confederacy surrendered to the Civil War.
“Great nations do not ignore their most painful moments,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “They stand up to them to become stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do. “
A Gallup poll found that Americans are more familiar with the Juneteenth than they were last year, with 59 percent saying they know “many” or “some” about the holiday, up from 37 percent a year ago in May. The survey also found that support for making Juneteent part of school history lessons increased from 49% to 63%.
However, many countries have been slow to make it a public holiday. Lawmakers in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere have failed to come up with proposals this year that would close government offices and give most of their government employees paid leave.
The celebrations in Texas include one in a park in Houston, created 150 years ago by a group of enslaved men who bought the land. It was sometimes the only public park available in the area for the black community, according to the conservation website.
“They wanted a place where they could not only celebrate, but do other things throughout the year as a community,” said Jacqueline Bostic, vice president of the Emancipation Park Conservancy and great-granddaughter of one of the park’s founders, the Rev. Jack Yates. .
This weekend’s festivities included performances by The Isley Brothers and Kool & The Gang. In the weeks before June, the park hosted discussions on topics ranging from health care through the police to the role of green spaces.
Participants included Robert Stanton, the first African-American to serve as director of the National Park Service, and Philoniz Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, who grew up in the historic Black Quarter and killed by a Minneapolis police officer two years ago. provoked protests around the world.
As more and more people learn about the Juneteenth, “we want to use this and use this moment as a tool to educate people about history and not just African American but American history,” said Ramon Manning, chairman of the Emancipation board. Conservancy Park.
At Fort Worth, the festivities included a rodeo at the invitation of Bill Pickett, named after the black cowboy who is credited with bulldoging or fighting steering wheels. Rodeo President and CEO Valeria Howard Cunningham said children are often surprised to see real black cowboys and cowgirls.
More young people have been involved in planning the events of the Juneteenth, said Torina Harris, program director of the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the birthplace of the festival.
The Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on “the various practices or norms that run counter to the values of freedom” and to think about how to challenge these things, Harris said.
Some of the city’s biggest celebrations, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Miami, not only touched on the history of slavery in America, but also marked black culture, business, and food.
Hundreds of people gathered in Phoenix for an annual event in Eastlake Park, Arizona’s civil rights center. The recently crowned Miss June 18th Arizona used her platform to talk about how she feels empowered during the state competition, which is part of a national competition that showcases and celebrates the academic and artistic achievements of black women.
This is “a time to build sisterhood, not to compete for the crown, but to celebrate the intelligence of black women and stay true to ourselves,” said Chondrea Norman, 17, whose Texas family grew up. , knowing about Juntaint.
Kendall McCollen, a 15-year-old teenage girl from Miss United Arizona, said the holiday was about fighting for social justice.
“We have to fight twice as hard to have the same freedoms that our ancestors fought for hundreds of years ago,” she said. “It is important that we continue to fight for my generation and that this day is important to celebrate how far we have come.
The event included performances by Kawambe-Omowale African Drum & Dance and speeches by politicians on how residents can get involved in local politics as children receive balloon animals and run through the Eastlake Park playground.
In New York, the Junteenth was celebrated in its five districts, attracting crowds that exceeded organizers’ expectations. In downtown Brooklyn, more than 7,000 people attended a Saturday-Sunday food festival hosted by Black-Owned Brooklyn, a digital publication and directory of local black businesses.
Although Juneteenth is a holiday for black Americans, festival organizers said they deliberately included cuisines and flavors from Caribbean and West African countries. On Sunday, long queues formed from almost every food stall as a DJ played heartfelt house music to the festively dressed audience.
“The idea of celebrating June 16th around our food culture is especially significant here in Brooklyn, where we have so many black people living here from all over the world,” said Tayo Giva, co-founder of Black-Owned Brooklyn.
“Paying tribute to him through our shared connection in the (African) diaspora is really powerful,” he said.
The event took place at the Weeksville Heritage Center, which was one of the largest black communities for liberated people before the Civil War. Attendees were given guided tours of the area, which includes historic homes and other structures that were once inhabited by the community’s founders.
“For a day of emancipation, it only makes sense for people to gather on this earth and feed each other not only with food but also with spirit and soul, emotion and love,” said Isa Saldanya, program manager. and partnerships for Weeksville Heritage Center.
“A big part of (the eleventh) is learning to be free and feel good doing it,” she said.
Jeffrey Weiley Sr. attended the festival with his three children on Sunday, which was also Father’s Day. A resident of Staten Island, New York, said he hoped federal Uninist celebrations would raise awareness of the history of black Americans in the United States.
“As each of us grows, we need to grow in the sense that we have suffered much longer than we are told we have,” Weiley said. “It is our duty to our ancestors to make sure that we are educated and improved in this country, because this country owes us a lot.”
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Associated Press writer Kimberly Cruise of Nashville, Tennessee, and Aaron Morrison of New York contributed to the report. Mumfrey reports from Phoenix and is a member of the Associated Press’s Race and Ethnic Team. Follow her in
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