During a live podcast from a Juneteenth celebration in Dalton, Georgia, the hosts of "Blacktivities" podcast discuss the historical celebrations of Juneteenth after the Emancipation Proclamation declaration in 1863. They share their own experiences and thoughts, as well as a few others' from the community, about the national recognition of Juneteenth as a holiday and whether it's a meaningful gesture or just an attempt to pacify Black people without real change.

Juneteenth: It's a Celebration!

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About the Hosts

Help Support Future Minority Educators by donating to the Wilbert Bond, Sr. Scholarship Fund, created to honor Shannon's Grandfather, the first black graduate of Middle Tennessee University.

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• The History of Juneteenth Celebrations
• Juneteenth: What It Is And How It Is Observed : NPR
• Juneteenth Day Celebration
• Juneteenth | History, Meaning, Flag, Importance, & Facts | Britannica
• The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth | National Museum of African American History and Culture

Copyright 2022-2024 Black Panache, LLC

Introduction and Setting the Scene

[0:00] Look at all the people coming in, coming in. They waving. All the uncles and aunties.

That's my cousin over there. Is it right?

Yeah. Ooh, look at him with his shirt tucked in. Yes, and he got his shirt tucked in his shorts.

I love it. This is our people.

It's a mixture of people. Hey, how you doing? Okay, all right.

I'm Shannon. And I'm Lisa. And you're listening to Blacktivities.

A celebration of all things Black. black culture, black history, black perspectives and black panache.

[0:31] Music.

[0:47] So let the black-tivities begin.

All right, now we back. Point of order. Point of order in my Eric Mays voice.

Introduction to the Celebration of Juneteenth

[0:55] Okay, because we are back. Juneteenth, aka Emancipation Day, aka Freedom Day, aka Jubilee Day, aka Black Independence Day.

That is the topic of this week's episode. And this is a very special episode as we are live from the Fish Fry.

Yay! A Juneteenth celebration event in my hometown, the DAL, which is Dalton, Georgia, and the place where Lisa and I met.

Yes! Reunited and it feels so good.

In season one, we talked about why we celebrate Juneteenth. Today we're talking about how we celebrate Juneteenth.

[1:46] And of course, how it was historically celebrated. Before we get on with the show, shout out to Michael Williams, owner of Style Statement by Michael Janelle.

She has all of the dopest looks and accessories to have you and others turning heads to see what it is.

Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

[2:09] Better yet, check out her website, which is amazing.

Just search Style Statements by Michael Janelle, okay?

And we'll put those in the show notes, too. That's for all the newbies.

When you follow her, make sure you're following us, too. It's only right. Right, right, right, right.

[2:28] So I'm happy to be back for season three, but even more excited for this PTO. OK, on June 19th.

OK, I'm off for work.

National holiday. Let the church say, Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm off anyway, but everybody else gets to be off with me, too.

So I guess it's a good thing.

Lisa, have you always celebrated Juneteenth?

To be honest with you, no. This is just like us for me recently.

Listen, I feel ashamed to say this, but once it was nationally recognized, then I start paying more attention to it.

So no. OK, because I thought it was going to be me, that it was just me.

I never celebrated until like after that whole racial awakening that we had a few years ago.

And after that, I just kind of feel like it's important to celebrate now.

It's very important. As a matter of fact, let's give them a little SAC's Facts.

I think it's ready now. We ready. Okay.

[3:28] Music.

SAC's Facts: Celebrating Juneteenth

[3:36] Well, if you listen to our first Juneteenth episode, the first episode ever, You heard us talk about what Juneteenth is and why it's celebrated.

If you didn't, I'm gonna need you to go back to season one, episode one, so you can hear the full story.

However, for those that need a refresher, here's the Cliff Notes version.

Do they still have Cliff Notes, Lisa? No, if they do, it's online.

You know, everything's online now. Okay. Shout out to my best friend.

That's how I met her.

It was business as usual for almost two years after that until Union troops showed up and told them.

[4:18] Abe said what he said, and those enslaved were now free.

Now, on this episode, I wanna talk about how Juneteenth has historically been celebrated.

After learning of their freedom in Texas, former slaves were praying, eating, singing spirituals, and dancing, and they continued this tradition year after year.

Early celebrations would begin with the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation.

You would hear Afro jazz, blues, and worship music, especially the Black National Anthem.

They also wore new, bright clothes to represent new freedom, and because they could, They honored their ancestors with the colors of the Pan-African flag, green and red, but also the colors of the American and Juneteenth flag, red, white, and blue. The red food and drink that you might see at your Juneteenth celebrations is a nod to West African tradition and culture. It represents that strength and spirituality. Soon these celebrations spread.

Similar things happened with Emancipation Park in Austin and Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia, though they did temporarily taper off a little bit during the Jim Crow and World War II eras and the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s.

[6:50] Music.

The Conversation

[7:07] ♪ You know you made it ♪, Wow, that's wild. That's wild. I couldn't imagine being out there working and, you know, like I think we said this before, you know, you working, working, working, and then somebody come and be like, I know, you know you're off of work, right?

You know, what you mean? I'm off of work.

You know, like, yeah, but I'm like, two years. Two years, I've been here, like, what the, no pay?

Right. Man, let me tell you something.

Talking about to tie the club up.

But so much has went into it and it's really crazy.

[7:46] But I guess we should go on and just, Let's just talk about it.

Let's break it down. Juneteenth.

I'm gonna be honest with you, and maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like a lot of people did not celebrate Juneteenth and didn't know until it became a national holiday.

Yeah.

I would agree with that. Yeah. And at least like when all the stuff happened and people were like learning about black history and stuff after George Floyd, after George Floyd died, it seemed like there was a period where people were actually interested in black history and black people. Right. Right. And that's kind of like where I learned a lot of black history is at that point.

OK, growing up in school, though, and I know I've asked you this before, but did you in the school systems here in Whitfield County and Georgia, did they talk about black history with you guys?

You know, they just gave me a look, y'all, she just gave me a look.

OK, because I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Hamilton County.

Now, I do remember, remember, you know, talking about black history.

I even shared with you guys previously in previous black history episodes.

If you are a true listener, you would know this. But I used to do the book report of the same person.

[9:12] Because our names are similar.

Yeah, black heart surgeon. But I feel like I mean, they did give us a taste of it, but they didn't touch anything on Juneteenth.

I'm not going to complain. Yeah, I never heard about Juneteenth until I was grown.

Yeah, me too. Me too.

Juneteenth: Awareness in Black Communities

[9:28] But so that's why I was amazed, guys, we were able to interview a whole bunch of people yesterday at a very, very nice event at Burr Park here in Dalton, Georgia.

And we were asking people, did you know of Juneteenth? And I was amazed about the amount of people that said that they did know.

I was too. Yeah.

So it made me feel like, OK, maybe I need to step my game. But notice that they also said where they were from was like majority black, though.

This is, yeah, this is true because, yeah, this is not a majority.

Shannon had me out here. She was like trying to recruit me. She's like, hey, let's go talk to some Caucasian people.

And I was like, bro, I don't want my ass down. Like, I ain't know exactly.

We was in here trying to get our questions together and stuff, y'all.

No, we don't discriminate, but we want to make sure our people know that they are recognized just like everyone else.

So I did a post on social media, like we're the black doll.

Yes. And here's what the people said.

Celebrating Juneteenth: Community Interviews

All right. So here we have miss.

Go ahead. Introduce yourself. I'm Shaka Cobb. OK, Miss Shaka.

Did you know about Juneteenth and the history of the day growing up?

I did know about it. I grew up in a black community. I went to all black high school, all black college.

So, yeah. And my elementary teachers taught us about it too.

Oh great! And that's very rare.

Right, right. Very, very rare.

How do you celebrate Juneteenth? Well, from my mom's hometown, which is Pittsview, Alabama, they celebrate, they call it May Day.

They actually just had the celebration last week. And May 28th, so growing up on every May 28th, we just have like something big like this, cookouts, kids, everything.

Because when they found out down there, it was May 28th. And you know, in Texas it was June.

So we called it May Day, but as the world started embracing Juneteenth more, they started doing both. So we would, just things like this.

We would go barbecue, have T-shirts, we have dances. My family would come from up north, down to the south.

Y'all be the best. Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. Well, this next question, I mean.

Oh, I love it. I love it. It's way past time, you know. Everything else is a national holiday, so why can't our holiday be a national holiday? Hello. We celebrate everybody else, so everybody should celebrate us. Exactly.

Hello, well thank you very much. Thank you ladies, I love your podcast, congratulations.

Thanks. Thanks. Did you know about Juneteenth and its history growing up?

Okay, okay. How do you celebrate Juneteenth? I celebrate Juneteenth, I'm in the cookout, just kicking it with family.

I'm hooked up. Okay, thank you.

Now, do you like that Juneteenth was made a national holiday?

Of course. Yeah? Like, it's more recognition. Okay. Yup. Okay.

Alright, thank you. You're welcome.

Alright. I'm Jackie Killings, part of the NAACP Juneteenth Committee.

Okay. Miss Jackie, did you know about Juneteenth and the history of the day growing up? Yes, I did.

I'm not from Dalton. I grew up in Alabama at an elementary school, high school.

We talked about Juneteenth. of the day growing up? Yes, I did. I grew up, I'm not from Dalton, I grew up in Alabama and in elementary school, high school, we talked about Juneteenth, we knew what Juneteenth was.

Yes, okay. And do you like that Juneteenth was made a national holiday, or do you have an issue with that? I do not have an issue with it.

I'm glad that it's gotten more recognition and more people in the past few years are understanding what Juneteenth is and understanding why it's important and how that it is a part of American history.

All right. Well, thank you very much. You're welcome. All right.

Rise in Juneteenth Celebrations and National Holiday

I think we've touched on that is because more people are woke, okay? I think so, yeah.

Yeah, more people are woke. I don't think it's that black people didn't want to celebrate Juneteenth, I think they just didn't know about it. This is true.

So, there have been conversations within the black community about whether making Juneteenth an official national holiday, if it was a good look or not.

Do you care? How do you feel about that, it being a national...

I like that it's a national holiday. I think some people felt like, you know, they're not really doing anything for real to help us.

They're just like, throwing that out there. Well...

I'm going to be honest with you. It's something to keep us satisfied.

Yes. Yes. I'm going to be honest with you.

When I first heard there was a national holiday, I went and I read up a little bit more.

It's like I had an inkling of Juneteenth, but I went and read up a little bit more about it. But then I felt like they was trying to pacify us.

And I was like, baby, if you want to pacify us, you need to come out with them reparations.

I don't know if that's going to ever happen. That's never going to happen.

They don't give us no coins. But I did. I felt the same way.

That's never going to happen. They don't give us no coins.

But I did. I felt the same way, like they were just trying to pacify us and get votes, if that's OK to say.

But I feel like we still gain from it, so. Yeah, yeah. PTO, baby. Hey, how you doing?

All right, so OK. Now, we're sitting in this room, and there is a mixture.

Diversity and Ethnicities Celebrating Juneteenth

She's very nice. I've seen her several times. She is a part of the NAACP committee here in Dalton.

She's a very, very sweet person. I think her name is Cheryl, if I'm not mistaken.

Very sweet person. But my question to you is how do you feel about other ethnicities celebrating?

I think it's cool as long as they are, they know the reason why they're celebrating.

And it's not just like, let me just come to this cookout just because or whatever.

Fish sandwich is hot.

Right. They look good too. Right. But if you know and are appreciating the holiday that we're celebrating, I think it's cool.

I feel the same way. Now, I'm gonna be honest with you.

Learned that it would be a national holiday, but when my job shared with us, okay, it was going to be PTO, paid time off, I had people, my co-workers who were not Black, that was like, oh my God, yes. And then they was like, but wait, we're in a meeting. And they was like, what's Juneteenth? And they turned and they looked at me and I'm like, hold on, like, What in the world? I ain't the spokesperson.

The resident black person? Yeah.

You're the spokesperson for black people. Yes. Yes. And it was so awkward.

It was a teachable moment then. Yes, a teachable moment.

So, yeah, yeah. But I mean, it was awkward at first, but I turned it into something positive.

Yes, that's what we got to do. Yes, yes.

Do you think it's a bad thing if like people don't want to celebrate Juneteenth?

So, if you think about it, before we actually knew it was a national holiday, before we actually did anything, anything. I know for a fact that we did not celebrate Juneteenth like this. There was no events like this, you know. So if you want to go ahead and, you know, continue on what you're doing, but still have the knowledge, it's okay. I don't think it's a bad thing if you don't celebrate Juneteenth. Just make sure you have the knowledge of what it is.

Because that's very important. That's very important. And we carry it on to, you know, children and their children because it's very important that our history is passed on. Yeah yeah yeah because they're trying to erase it. Yes. All right well we're gonna do a live activity. Let me start my shoe back up. We're gonna have some and participation from the audience.

Let me say, who can we call over here though?

Blacktivity - live with guest Marisa Kelley

Black-tivities live. Yes, Black-tivities live, sorry.

Okay. All right, so if you could just introduce yourself, please, and tell them who you are and what you do.

Okay, I'm Marisa Kelley, the Dalton-Whitfield NAACP president.

All right, so you ready for this trivia game?

Do you know any other name for Juneteenth?

Freedom Day. Okay, okay. Any other ones? Emancipation Day.

Look at you. You got another one? Jubilee.

Look at her. Yes, yeah. Yes. They also have one called, was it Celebration Day or something like that? I think that's Celebration Day. Yeah, yeah.

All right. Where did this holiday originate? The state of Texas.

Look at. Y'all, we got to give her something. All right. Why would someone wear red on Juneteenth?

Representation of the blood of our ancestors? You know what?

She went off. She is the president of the NAACP and she showed out. You hear me?

And who you wanna give a shout out to?

Let me see. Shout out my branch and let me see. Who else can I shout out?

Just the whole Dalton community. It's been an amazing Juneteenth celebration.

All right, well, thank you for letting us Blacktivities come along and we appreciate you participating today. You did amazing.

Thank you, thank you. All right. You got a shirt coming your way.

Lisa's Pieces: Not Moved

My ancestors may have been moved, underestimated, underpaid, under the influence, spirit broken.

Our feet planted, fists clutched tight, nails digging into skin, but guess what?

We still are not moved. Celebration or not, we continue on and remain, not moved.

Well maybe a little speeding. Motivation speeding, your confidence running away and dreams gone beyond that.

You're issued a ticket, but you fret not because your experience with setbacks have you carrying on and being consistent to not be moved.

Celebrating Juneteenth and Teaching Black History

But I'm sure I'm sure that Lisa's piece was amazing. I will listen to it on the playback.

Yes, agreed. We have to teach our history. We have to. And it's crazy because I'm thinking of like students that I have from other cultures and you know what they do on the weekend they go to their culture school so they go to like Korean school or Chinese school. I wonder if we had a culture school what it would look Yeah, I don't know, but they they make sure that they keep learning their traditions and they keep it in their families.

That's awesome. So, you know, we've got to do that, too.

Next Week: Black Music Month

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Ooh, they finna start the spades. Okay, well, until next week. King and queens keep doing big things.

Let's go. Yes, yes, yes.