Every year, I believe I can feel the love of the ancestors reaching out to me, supporting with their strength, urging me to keep going. They remind me to celebrate my freedom; and yes, to eat a little BBQ and drink some strawberry soda pop.
Juneteenth gives us a special day to celebrate liberty and to honor the courage of those who stepped out from bondage to carve out lives in unfamiliar and treacherous frontiers. ...
On June 19th, 1865 - Juneteenth - two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and those who had been slaves were free. Juneteenth, Nestled between Flag Day and Independence Day, is another powerful anchor in the American experience.On June 19th - later to be known as Juneteenth - in Galveston, Texas, African Americans also gathered to celebrate. The festivities centered around family, friends, and community and was a time for thanksgiving, reflection, remembering, and prayer.
In counter-point to their experiences as "Property of the Massa", the freed men and woman dressed up and served up a bounty of food which included a main course featuring - of course - barbecue and red soda water.
This year, there will be celebrations in cities and towns from Nacogdoches, Texas to White Plains, New York to Roanoke, Virginia; in other words, all across America. These commemorations range from traditional parades and cookouts, to scuba diving demonstrations to more than a dozen Afrospear bloggers enlisting their talents to honor Juneteeth by creating dedicated posts on their individual blogs.
What do you do?
1. Thank You to the Village parents that brought them through-Holding on. That same spirit tugs at my family and I. Juneteenth is especially sombering because of the humanity it gave to a people. Thank you GOD for the promise you made Abraham "Let us get our inheritance. Much love for the ancestors.
AbrahamSPKS56 at 9:42AM on Jun 18th 2008