What is Juneteenth, America’s newest federal holiday?
Juneteenth marks the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans. It became a federal holiday in 2021.
- Juneteenth celebrates the fall of slavery in the U.S.
- At the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, programming included art workshops, yoga and a panel featuring the descendants of slaves.
On a rainy Juneteenth, visitors flocked to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to come together for day of joyful celebration and reflection in one of the nation’s largest majority-Black cities.
Juneteenth — which became a federal holiday in 2021 — celebrates the fall of slavery by marking the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to announce the end of slavery, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. An audience packed the Detroit museum’s theater to watch a National Geographic documentary about the last known slave trip to come to the United States and heard directly from the descendants of those forced to make that journey.
National Geographic’s “Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship” tells the story of how a bet to defy the ban on the slave trade led to the arrival of an illegal slave trip carrying 110 captives in Mobile, Alabama, in 1860. Clotilda Capt. William Foster burned the ship, destroying the evidence. But the story of the enslaved brought to the United States on the ship lives on today through their descendants. Two of them spoke to the Detroit crowd about the legacy their ancestors left: Patricia Frazier is great-great-granddaughter of Lottie Dennison, one of the captives who came to the United States on the Clotilda, and Jeremy Ellis is a fifth-generation descendant of Pollee and Rose Allen, two other slaves on the ship.
During a panel moderated by Detroit’s City Historian Jamon Jordan, Ellis said the history of the Clotilda is unique in the breadth of its historical record, including oral histories of survivors and Foster’s diary among other sources. The descendants, Ellis said, don’t like to call that history a story. “We like to call it the truth,” he said.
Ellis and Frazier shared moments of determination from their ancestors. Ellis said that after Allen Pollee became free, he joined a few of his other shipmates to start their own church, purchased land and voted. “The blueprint is there for us,” Ellis said. To cast his first — and perhaps only — ballot, Ellis said Pollee had to travel to three different polling locations, having been stopped at the first two by Timothy Meaher, the slave trader who made the wager that brought the Clotilda to the United States. At the third location, Pollee had to pay a poll tax. “And I tell that truth because I have my daughter sitting here and that’s why every year, local, city whatever, we go vote together,” he said.
Frazier shared how Lottie Dennison was forced to marry her husband James within her first 18 months of arriving in the U.S. The pair later married on their own. Frazier said she believes that the second marriage wasn’t motivated by a desire for a romantic ending but by James’ fear that a slave marriage might not be recognized. Despite never learning to read or write, he signed a will bequeathing all of his possessions to his wife and her son Napoleon, Frazier said.
Rae Chesney, a panelist and Zora Neale Hurston scholar, said the day underscored the importance of sharing stories. “We are the carriers, and holders of each others stories. The torch cannot be carried forward if the torch is not lit,” she said. Hurston’s book “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’ ” tells the story of one of the Clotilda’s captives, Cudjo Lewis.
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History’s other Juneteenth programming included a treasure hunt, silent disco yoga, art workshops, a book giveaway, horseback riding and cooking demonstrations. Jillian Hurst, 28, of Plymouth, and Alyssa Tarrance, 31, of Detroit, said they enjoyed the yoga under the iconic glass dome at the museum and spoke of the importance of celebrating Juneteenth.
Tarrance said the holiday provides a reminder of what her ancestors experienced. “It’s a grounding moment,” she said. She said coming to the museum requires some mental preparation to go through the exhibits and revisit the history of those who came before her. “And it’s that rejuvenation of like, you know what? You come from from a lot of strength, a lot of perseverance. People who made a way whatever way, and so I can continue forward as well,” she said.
Hurst said she loves how Juneteenth serves as a marker of summer to begin what she said should be a season of liberation. She said she loved to see the mix of ages at the Wright Museum for the occasion, pointing out that for the children there, Juneteenth is part of their sense of history from the outset. “For this to be part of their first pass is wonderful,” she said. Hurst also said she liked seeing many peers of her own age there. “I think a lot of history is our elders and our children, so I think to also see our generation taking accountability and not just engaging in Juneteenth as a history lesson from grandparents to grandchildren,” she said.
Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
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