Juneteenth Jamboree

(swinging jazz music) If you really want to play, These cats set aside a day Grab your duds and come with me The Juneteenth Jamboree If you really want to spree, Chicks galore I'll guarantee Grab your duds and come with me The Juneteenth Jamboree, yeah - Welcome to Juneteenth Jamboree: How We're Celebrating Now.

I'm Harrison Eppright.

One year ago, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

This required something like 25 years for the U.S. Congress to carry the legislative effort to fruition.

It's also been 157 years since the first Juneteenth celebration in Galveston, Texas back in 1865, which came several months beyond the end of the Civil War.

And right now we're going to explore some of the local changes that time has wrought among several communities across the United States.

Joining me in this discussion are Sam Collins III, a leader and historian from the Galveston area and beyond, and Dr. Sabrina W. Robins, an IT and civic engineer on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Sam and Dr. Robins, briefly describe the origin story behind your community's Juneteenth celebration.

- Galveston is the birthplace of Juneteenth.

I tell individuals, you could read a book about swimming, you could watch a video about swimming, but sooner or later you're gonna have to get in the water.

And when you're in Galveston, Texas, you're in the water when it relates to Juneteenth.

Major General Gordon Granger arrived here with thousands of United States Colored Troops and Union soldiers.

Many of them had arrived prior to Granger coming here to Galveston but when Grainger arrived, he ordered the issuance of General Order No.

3, which is known as the Juneteenth Order, setting all slaves free.

But Granger did not write General Order No.

3 as many think.

He wrote General Orders 1 and 2.

He had an officer under him, Major Frederick Emery who authored General Order No.

3 and signed it.

The other thing about the order, General Order No.

3, that language had been used in other communities.

General Philip Sheridan had given Granger orders to come into Galveston and issue General Order No.

3.

So that date, June 19th, 1865 later combined to create the word Juneteenth.

The former enslaved people of Galveston and Texas eventually spread that through the passing down of oral history to their descendants and as they relocated throughout the country to other areas.

And also those soldiers that were here in Texas to bring that message of freedom took the word back to their community that they had come into Texas and spread the message of freedom.

There's a great deal of talk now to expand the Juneteenth narrative, but at the core of it it began right here on the southwest corner of 22nd and Strand in Galveston, Texas when Major General Gordon Granger gave the order to Major Frederick Emory to issue General Order No.

3.

So that's where the story of Juneteenth begins here in Galveston and in Texas.

- Thank you, Sam.

Dr. Robins, briefly describe the origin story behind your community's Juneteenth celebration.

- Sure.

In Appleton, Wisconsin our first Juneteenth celebration occurred in 2010.

That is the year that Governor Doyle signed the orders to have Juneteenth be a state holiday for the state of Wisconsin.

And we had our very first festival and it was small for us.

The first year we had about 1500 folks to celebrate.

And it focused on making sure that it was educational because many people at that time did not know about Juneteenth.

And so we had the opportunity in Northeast Wisconsin to not only celebrate but educate the rest of our community members.

Our community is predominantly White and the Black population at that time in 2010 was about 1., no, I'm sorry, it wasn't even 1%.

It was like 0.3 or 0.6%.

So we were less than 1% of the total population but at the time, a lot of the companies in the area and the community was looking at diversity initiatives and our event quickly became the signature regional diversity event all around this notion of unity and freedom and celebration of the freedom.

- Thank you for your time and your perspectives.

Now, Sam, it's been mentioned that Texans are proud to point to Galveston, Texas as the site of the original Juneteenth by way of Union General Gordon Granger's arrival in 1865.

How proud were we when the late Texas Representative Al Edwards won state legislative passage of the statewide Juneteenth holiday in 1979?

- Well, in 1979, it was a major accomplishment for the late State Representative Al Edwards to get the Juneteenth bill passed.

House Bill 1016 made Juneteenth a state holiday.

But 100 years before that in 1879, there was a state representative named Robert Evans that had also tried to make Juneteenth a state holiday as early as 1879.

And the reason I bring that up is that in 2020, Juneteenth became popular and now everyone's talking about it as a national holiday.

Of course, in 1979, House Bill 1016 made Texas the first state to recognize it.

But many of the former enslaved and their descendants had been working for decades to make sure that we always knew that this day was important.

So while it became popular in 2020, it has always been important to the former enslaved and their descendants.

And specifically here in the Galveston community, they began celebrating immediately and would celebrate annually at some level.

It was not always as big or as popular as it is today, but there was always an annual commemoration of this and we're proud of that heritage.

And even though Juneteenth, like a baby that was born here, the birthplace has grown up and traveled the world.

This story of freedom and liberty and opportunity, it will always have its roots here in Texas and it will always have its roots here on Galveston Island.

So we are excited that everyone's joining in this freedom birthday celebration and we think individuals should celebrate from June 19th to July 4th.

These two freedom days are connected.

One is a freedom birthday for the country and one is a freedom birthday for the former enslaved.

- Sam, the late Reverend Ronald V. Myers M.D.

died in 2018.

He was a physician, musician and founder of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, a leading proponent for making Juneteenth a national holiday.

And of course President Biden signed a Juneteenth bill into law on June 17th, 2021.

Does this current elevation of Juneteenth meet The Reverend Myers' dreams?

- I'm glad that you are recognizing the work of Dr. Ronald Myers.

He was an amazing individual and the national holiday is just what the doctor ordered.

So we are all excited that now it has become a national holiday, but Doc's work to help get Juneteenth legislation passed in over 40 states before his death in 2018 really laid the foundation for Juneteenth becoming a national holiday.

Doc built a national network of Juneteenth planners and directors with the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation and that work continues today.

But after Doc passed, Ms. Opal Lee became more of the face and the grandmother of Juneteenth.

So if Al Edwards is considered the father of Juneteenth, Miss Opal Lee is considered the grandmother of Juneteenth and Dr. Ronald Myers has to be Dr. Juneteenth, and we would not have a national holiday if not for the work of him and the partners that worked with him to make sure that this Juneteenth story was not just a Texas story and not just a Galveston story but an American story of freedom.

- How does Juneteenth nowadays, a federal holiday, elevate the nation?

Dr. Robins?

- What we experienced, African Heritage experienced Juneteenth during the pandemic when we went online.

It was the first time our programming for Juneteenth went global.

That we had people from the Caribbean, London and Canada and certain countries in Africa also joined in on Juneteenth.

And some of them had their own celebrations.

And so getting back to what you just asked, what's the significance of having it recognized at the federal level, is not only are people getting, the government employees get the day off, but a lot of companies have also followed suit in giving their employees days off.

So it widens the scope of on the discussions about freedom and what does freedom mean?

Who has freedom?

And then what is our role, not only as African Americans, Americans, or from a global citizen standpoint, whose job is it to protect freedom and ensure that we all have freedom?

So as we looked and saw global demonstrations of Black Lives Matter, all of that is about freedom.

And I know as an African American, how wonderful I felt that I didn't feel I had to shoulder the burden alone in that push for freedom and Black freedom and enjoying the fullness of what citizenship means.

And to know that there are demonstrations nearly on every continent.

And so elevating it to a federal level really increases the opportunity and the impact to ensure freedoms, to continue our march towards freedoms, and to have that discussion and know that it is the responsibility of all of us and not just those of us that celebrate Juneteenth.

But it's Juneteenth with a purpose that is to spark activity and thought and a commitment every day of our lives.

- Hear, hear.

Sam, I ask you the same question.

How does Juneteenth, nowadays a federal holiday, elevate the nation?

- Well, Juneteenth celebrates the evolution of our country to a more perfect union.

So while we were not perfect in 1528 when the first non-Native enslaved person arrived here in Texas, or in 1619, which is associated with the Transatlantic Slave Trade on the East Coast.

We were not perfect in 1776, 1865, or even today.

It gives us an opportunity to expand the narrative of our history in this country and the world, as Dr. Robins has just spoken about.

Because in 2015, one of the things we did here in Galveston in celebration of the sesquicentennial anniversary, we shipped t-shirts to Nigeria, to Dominica, to Canada, with the 150th celebration from Galveston, Texas and some of the letters and emails that I received from individuals around the world, just thanking us for sending those t-shirts, brochures and magazines to educate them about this history was so impactful.

And some of those children from 2015 have grown up and now they're in college and they could look back in 2021 and say, "I remember when I received that t-shirt from Galveston, Texas, and I know the Juneteenth story."

So they were able to share that Juneteenth story all over the world because they had received that message.

So it elevates it to a level of importance for others to recognize it and see it.

But again, this is not just our history.

It's everybody's history.

It's world history.

And I'm so excited about the fact that now that it's a national holiday, we all get to celebrate it.

- I am too.

Thank you.

Dr. Robins, several founders and leaders of African Heritage, Incorporated appear to have African heritage by way of recent immigration to the USA.

Can you explain this impact on your Appleton community and the annual Juneteenth event?

- Yes.

And in fact our name is intentional, African Heritage.

It is our philosophy and how we operate is from a African diaspora point of view.

And so our founders are from various countries in the African continent, primarily from Nigeria.

So we have Ibo, we have Hausa, we have folks from different countries.

And so as we look for building our people, increasing our nation-building activities, it's nice to have those on our board and in our organization that have experience with it.

I believe that's probably the number one strength of not only of African Heritage, but also the different professions that we also are trained in and then lend those talents back to the organization.

- Dr. Robins and Sam, what can be done to make the holiday an even more profound moment?

Or to put it another way, how can your community's celebrations of Juneteenth manifest itself even more successfully?

I pose this question to you, Sam.

- Well, one of the things about Juneteenth that I've often said is that Juneteenth celebrates freedom.

We don't ignore the connection to slavery because it was freedom from slavery but what did Juneteenth create?

It created opportunity for the former enslaved to start building community, freedmen settlements and freedom colonies, colleges, HBCUs, universities, towns, churches, high schools.

And if you take the 50 years between 1865 and 1915, there was a great deal of building of these communities.

So we should celebrate that success and celebrate those individuals that were elected officials during reconstruction.

Individuals like George T. Ruby and Matthew Gaines, who helped to establish Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University.

They don't always get credit for pushing that public education narrative but they were very instrumental in establishment of those two universities.

So communities need to really embrace that success and that accomplishment and tell the story.

Was life perfect?

No.

Was there a resistance to that?

Yes.

But that is what is so much more inspiring about the work that they did, that they built those communities in the face of that headwind.

And they were very successful doing for self.

They took the skillsets that they had and built community and we can learn from that even today.

As Dr. Robins was talking about, I guess nation building and building, I was thinking about those individuals that came out of enslavement with very few assets, but with skills.

And we need to draw from that strength and draw from the inspiration of their examples to us.

So that's how individuals can embrace the story today.

And not only African Americans, but all people can learn from the success of these individuals.

One individual I'll give you, John Rufus Gibson.

He was an educator here in Galveston, came in 1882, retired in 1936.

He was the principal of the Black high school here from 1888 to 1936.

48 years and over five decades of his life committed to this community.

Every educator can be inspired by his story, not just African American educators, but all.

- Dr. Robins, what can be done to make the holiday an even more profound moment?

How can your community celebration of Juneteenth manifest even more success?

- Sure.

I'd like to see, and what we can do is have expanded programming and discussions about freedom.

So as I look at May and Memorial Day, you got June, Juneteenth and then we have 4th of July in July.

That is plenty of opportunity to have the discussions about what does it mean to be a citizen?

What does it mean to be a member of your local community?

And what more work needs to be done so that we all feel free.

We can't change the world, but we can change our community.

And so that fight for freedom, it has been some big things, but a lot of small things to help us.

Even if it's just coming up and making food.

Or sometimes you can't just out and out fight but just somebody else that can see your humanity and be able to let you be vulnerable and know that things are not okay, but I'm gonna be with you, you know?

So it isn't always great.

But for us to know who are those in the families to talk about freedoms?

And then what can we do to help make sure that our children get a chance to be free?

There's a lot that's restricting their movement, restricting their thoughts.

I think Juneteenth is perfectly positioned to celebrate more than just one day or week, but expand that so that we can talk about the Black experience, 365.

And then dedicate this time to totally talk about freedom.

What does it mean to us?

And then celebrate of what we have accomplished.

Many of our accomplishments are undocumented, undervalued, and this is a time to bring those stories forward.

Our artifacts.

And so as a public historian, share with our people, what is an artifact and that your things are worth preserving.

And I'm just learning as a member of some of these other organizations, we throw away things that really have meaning but because Black life is often just not appreciated enough, we're not appreciating our values.

I mean, not our values, but our valuables.

And so I'd like for us to start saving some of our stuff and cataloging it and so that years to come, our people can celebrate and have a, really, understanding of what does Black life mean?

And so I'm very much into first voice, first voice activism and sharing that voice so that we are in charge of our narratives.

And what a great start is to talk about freedom and what we can do to celebrate it and grow that story.

- Thank you, Dr. Robins.

I too believe that we should document our life stories, our individual stories, our stories as families.

I believe that we should look upon the heroes, regard the heroes as you said, Sam, not just those on the screen but the heroes in everyday life.

And if we look close enough and we look at ourselves in a mirror, we'll find a hero lurking inside of us.

- Yeah.

I don't come from letter writing people.

However, I think that my grandmother's cake pan where she made that good old three-layer caramel cake ought to be in somebody's museum.

And I just think about all the stories, me and my cousins have eating that cake, she had the, it was caramel with the green the red and the lemon.

I don't know if y'all had grandmamas that could cook like that.

- And with that, it's time to wrap up our discussion about Juneteenth, past, present, and future.

I thank all of my guests for being with me.

Dr. Robins, as well as Sam.

And we appreciate all of you who have been witness to this discussion.

Let's keep on celebrating freedom.

(swinging jazz music) If you really wanna play These cats set aside a day Grab your duds and come with me To the Juneteenth Jamboree Man they really pitch a ball Lot of wigs, the jives and all Everything is strictly free, The Juneteenth Jamboree There's no shirking, no-one's working Everybody's stopped Gums are chomping, corks are popping Doing the Texas hop Dressed to kill from head to feet Baskets full of food to eat You can't get this on your TV The Juneteenth Jamboree The Juneteenth Jamboree The Juneteenth Jamboree (logo whistles)