Many reflect on meaning of Juneteenth Day for the first time
Many reflect on meaning of Juneteenth Day for the first time
FOX 26 Reporter Damali Keith speaks with Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, the Director and Curator of the University Museum at Texas Southern University.
HOUSTON - This year Juneteenth comes at a time when our country is coming together like it never has before. There is a renewed reflection across America regarding what this day means.
"In accordance with the Proclamation from the Executive of the United States all slaves are free”. With those words from Union Army General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 blacks in Texas found out Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery two and a half years earlier and they had no idea.
"I look at Juneteenth as a powerful point of pause,” says Dr. Alvia Wardlaw Director and Curator of TSU's University Museum.
Ashton Villa celebrations different this Juneteenth under COVID-19 restrictions
Doug Matthews, chairman of the Texas Emancipation Juneteenth Cultural and Historial Commission outlines the plans for the 2020 Juneteenth celebration. While the annual Ashton Villa breakfast has been cancelled more than 1,000 meals will be distributed to seniors on the island and a special memorial for Al Edwards will be held.
Wardlaw says this year Juneteenth is different because it isn’t black America but one America coming together to recall the history and revise the future.
“That is really a wonderful, wonderful thing to experience and witness," Wardlaw said.
In fact, look no further than two Texas lawmakers to see how so many are joining together. Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee and Lizzie Fletcher have joined for the Juneteenth Independence Day Act to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
"History does not belong to one group. If it is my history it is your history,” says Jackson Lee.
"People were calling from across the country wanting to participate because we know this is an important moment in our history,” adds Fletcher.
Emancipation Park 2020 virtual Juneteenth celebration
Sally MacDonald talks with Lucy Bremond the Executive Director of the Emancipation Park Conservancy about this year's virtual Juneteenth celebration.
Rapper Trae Tha Truth is leading Houston's Juneteenth Ride For Justice. "Right is right and wrong is wrong. There are a lot of people that are not being served justice that we have to stand up for and I think there's strength in numbers," Trae Tha Truth said.
"It’s just a point of pride because I look at the young people who are taking on the cause and are making their voices heard,” smiles Wardlaw.
The 72-year-old was one of only twenty black students at Wellesley College in the 1960’s. She and four other female students fought for black faculty to be hired and won. She showed FOX 26 Reporter Damali Keith one of many newspaper articles written about her group.
One headline "Negroes Ask Change at Wellesley” but one thing Wardlaw and many others say they can’t help but notice. All those years ago when the Union General announced the freedom of blacks he also said, "This involves an absolute equality of personal rights”. 155 years later and African Americans are still struggling for equality.
“Last week I heard Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, which is my absolute favorite song in the world, and I got very emotional because I said we are still asking this question and we are still looking for answers,” says Wardlaw.
However, Dr. Wardlaw says she is optimistic about the future particularly because lately, she says things seem to be really changing, improving rapidly and she says it's encouraging that so many agree Juneteenth isn't black history but American history.