What kind of public Juneteenth events are going on around the country? “If I can unite Father’s Day and Juneteenth to be with my family and honor them, that would be wonderful,” he said. If anything, Anderson is thinking about the fact it’s Father’s Day this weekend. WATCH: Americans celebrate Juneteenth as the push for social justice persistsĪnderson has no special event planned other than giving his employees Friday and Monday off. In the South, the day can vary based on when word of Emancipation reached each state. It wasn’t a celebration of history.”įor many African Americans, the farther away from Texas that they grew up increased the likelihood they didn’t have big Juneteenth celebrations regularly. Even if you heard about it and knew about it, you didn’t celebrate it,” Anderson said. “I think many folks haven’t known about it - who are even my color as an African American male. What I want to do is give everyday people a choice.” What if you’ve never celebrated Juneteenth?Īnderson, 57, of Columbia, Maryland, never did anything on Juneteenth in his youth. “I don’t want to make people feel guilty about that. King, I’ll watch what’s on the television, and I’m gonna rest,’” Anderson said. There are a lot of other people who are just ‘I appreciate Dr. “Just like the Martin Luther King holiday, we say it’s a day of service and a lot of people will do things. David Anderson, a Black pastor and CEO of Gracism Global, a consulting firm helping leaders navigate conversations bridging divides across race and culture.
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The important thing is to make people feel they have options on how to observe the occasion, said Dr. WATCH: Juneteenth’s evolution into a national holiday and meaningful ways to celebrate
That can mean doing community service, attending an education panel or taking time off. Others may choose to treat Juneteenth as a day of rest and remembrance. But, there was so many beautiful activities.” And it was about freedom because what we understood is that we were emancipated from slavery. “It’s where I began to really see Black unity because I realized that that was the one day that African Americans considered ours,” Freeman said. You could go to anyone’s house and be welcomed to join in the feast, which could include grilled chicken and beef and other regional cuisines - jerk meats, fried fish, Jamaican plantains. A comedian who is producing Galveston’s first ever Juneteenth Comedy Festival on Saturday, he has vivid memories of smoke permeating his entire neighborhood because so many people were using their barbecue pits for celebratory cookouts. WATCH: What is Juneteenth? 4 things you should knowĪlan Freeman, 60, grew up celebrating Juneteenth every year in Houston, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Galveston.
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The gatherings were especially revolutionary because they were free of restrictive measures, known as “Black Codes,” enforced in Confederate states, controlling whether liberated slaves could vote, buy property, gather for worship and other aspects of daily life. In the beginnings of the holiday celebrated as Black Americans’ true Independence Day, the outdoors allowed for large, raucous reunions among formerly enslaved family, many of whom had been separated. Juneteenth festivities are rooted in cookouts and barbecues. People who never gave the holiday on June 19 more than a passing thought may be asking themselves, is there a “right” way to celebrate Juneteenth?įor beginners and those brushing up on history, here are some answers: Is Juneteenth a solemn day of remembrance or more of a party?
WATCH: The significance of Juneteenth, America’s first new federal holiday in decades Many people get the day off work or school, and there are a plethora of street festivals, fairs, concerts and other events. Since it was designated a federal holiday in 2021, Juneteenth has become more universally recognized beyond Black America. It marks the day in 1865 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed - after the end of the Civil war, and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. For more than one-and-a-half centuries, the Juneteenth holiday has been sacred to many Black communities.
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