My husband and I began this week acknowledging and enjoying Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom. Juneteenth, officially celebrated on June 19, is a federal holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Its name is a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” the day in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the Civil War.
It is incredible to me that Buffalo has been hosting a Juneteenth festival for 49 years and has a celebration that is second only to Texas in its size and scope.
Our family has attended the festival, held in Martin Luther King Park, for many years. It was especially important for us to attend while our children were growing up. We wanted our sons to experience the strength, resilience, excellence, joy and appreciation of freedom that is our heritage as African American people.
The music, art, dance, African clothing, jewelry, food and fun of Juneteenth was always a cultural extravaganza, and this year’s festival was exceptionally wonderful. My husband and I enjoyed a traditional soul food dinner while sitting under a canopy of trees in MLK Park, watching, listening and appreciating several outstanding musicians and singers. The front of the stage area was continually filled with audience members dancing, as performers encouraged them to come forward and rejoice. Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, I welcomed the sight of people from other cultures, races and creeds in attendance at this peaceful, joyful, outstanding celebration of freedom. If you have never attended, I hope you will make it a point to go next year.
It is wonderful to see that Juneteenth celebrations are spreading across the nation. It makes sense to me that a celebration of freedom would be appreciated by beings who are created to be free.
As a believer in Christ, I’m reminded of some of the words of freedom that are found in the scriptures:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” — Galatians 5:1
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” — 2 Corinthians 3:17
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” — John 8:31
This Juneteenth, I also took time to reflect and read through some of the books I inherited from my late stepmother, Sammie Burnette Johnson. She was one of the “Memphis State Eight” — eight African American students who were escorted to their classes on the campus of then-Memphis State University on September 18, 1959. They were trailblazers who “integrated one of the most prominent institutions of higher education in the region”. In reflecting on freedom, I remember those who came before me so that I could more richly enjoy the freedoms of this nation.
I hope we as a nation will continue to make efforts to move towards things that unite us, instead of the things that divide us. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are virtues we all enjoy. True “liberty and justice for all” are part of the things that have always made America a light of freedom. I pray that we will ignite that light by the way we live out the freedoms we all hold so dear. With God’s help, I believe we can.
