June Juneteenth celebration-When were you aware?

My option is not up there. I found out after I got married, 35 yrs ago. My DH's favorite aunt and uncle were married on June 19 and were Texans. They told me the information. And my YDS was born on June 19th so it is one more reminder of the day and date.

I checked all my life, but in reality I probably had heard about it (community celebrations) growing up but wasn’t really aware of what it was about until maybe high school.

I literally found out about it a week ago. When I looked at the calendar that I buy every year. And it said Juneteenth. For the first time. And I googled it.

I’m just going to leave that there...

I didn’t realize it was a celebration until I saw it marked on my iPhone a few years ago. My family has tons of birthdays in June so I was going through making sure I had all of our parties and events correctly lined up and that’s when I found it. Led me down the rabbit hole online about its meaning and I definitely went away wondering why we weren’t taught it in school.

I’ve known about Juneteenth my whole life. I remember learning Lift Every Voice at church and wondering which one of the choir elders had lived during the time Africans were enslaved.



www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/06/juneteenth-has-always-been-worthy-celebration/613270/

One of my colleagues at Rhodes College, the professor Charles McKinney, wrote recently to his black students: “We are not solely the history of fighting white folks. That is not who we are. We are double-dutch in summer. We are letting the air out of Big Mama’s house. We are Uncle Ray’s jokes on top of jokes. We are collards, second lines, and blue lights in the basement. We are swagger in the midst of chaos. We are reunions and step shows. We are the borough and the bayou. We are church till two, and the corner till four. We are a universe of experiences.”

And so, in the middle of a chaotic period in this nation’s history, Black Americans pause to celebrate. They will barbecue, and dance, and pray, and love, and live in the name of freedom. The rest of America can use the day off to work on its own freedom—from a shameful past and a violent present.

I picked within thr last 10 years but probably about 15 years ago. From a friend at work saying she was celebrating that day. She filled me In.

I have alway known about it. But I am in Texas and if I recall correctly, we've had it for a state holiday since the early 80's. I was born in '79. It probably helps that from my junior high years moving forwardmy dad was a state employee vs a regular teacher. So he always got June 19th off.

Several years ago, my church and a historically black Methodist church combined. That year was the first I learned about it. I also like the episode of musical episode of Blackish they had a few years ago.

A long time.

We have a Juneteenth celebration here with a miss Juneteenth There has been controversy over that pageant.

I've lived in California my whole life and I'd never heard of June Teenth until last year. Even then I really didn't know what it was about until this thread.

Around 15 years. I don't remember hearing about it until some residents in my city started holding a Juneteenth Festival.

When we lived in Texas, it was more largely celebrated. I believe it was in the state of Texas that the movement to have it designated as an "official" holiday was really strong.

Juneteenth
Not June teenth
or June Teenth

Mother Opal Lee! Now I didn’t learn about this special woman until noon today! She is 93 and living in TX. The resiliency of Black people is unmatched.


On June 19th, 1939 a white mob burned down the new home of my cousin Opal Lee in Fort Worth, Texas. Three-quarters of a century after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, folks of Black African heritage in the United States of America were still experiencing domestic terrorism.

Cousin Opal Lee was 12 years old the day 500 citizens terrorized them because they were pursing the American dream of home ownership. Today, at age 93, cousin Opal Lee, still living in Fort Worth, works tirelessly to convince legislators and anyone who will listen to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

This Juneteenth 2020, after reading an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on my cousin, I find myself reflecting on my family, my upbringing, my Southern roots and the roles all of that plays into who I and how I operate in this world.

I am a descendant of kidnapped and enslaved Africans. My parents were both born and raised in the South. I did not grow up celebrating Juneteenth in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood where I was born and raised. My father left the South, where Juneteenth has been widely celebrated since 1865, because he knew he could not reach his full potential there.

Daddy once told me the story of what led to his escape from the South. My parents were living in Warren, Arkansas. There, the primary work for African American men was at the saw mill. During his time working at the mill, my father made a radical decision. As a man who understood his worth, he decided that if he was to be addressed as “boy” and not “sir” then he would not address the white men as “sir”. My dad said as much when the foreman insisted that he address him as sir and, of course, he was fired. The foreman spread the word that no one should hire that uppity …

My father was married and had three children at the time. He knew he had to work. One day he was walking in the community looking for work. A “big wig” from the mill saw him and, not knowing his story, asked him if he wanted some work. My dad jumped at the chance and the man instructed him to milk his cow.

www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article243650172.html

www.star-telegram.com/opinion/bud-kennedy/article126595784.html

I grew up in Los Angeles and went to high school in coastal North Carolina. My first memory of Juneteenth was when I lived in West Texas, so in my late-20's. I worked for the State of Texas and we had a lot of state holidays, including Juneteenth and Confederate Heroes Day. This would have been in the 1993-95.