By Larry Starks
The Tucson Juneteenth Festival IS BACK OUTSIDE!!!. It has been a long time due to COVID restrictions, that we have been able to celebrate this historic event, as we should, outside. This year’s Festival is at Kennedy Park Fiesta Area, 3357 S. La Cholla Blvd, Tucson, 85713. 10 am to 9 pm, on Sunday June 19, a Gospel Jubilee and Father’s Day luncheon (3pm to 6pm) will be held at Dunbar Pavilion, 325 W 2nd street, Tucson, 85705
Juneteenth is held every year to honor and observe the official emancipation of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had already been in effect since 1863, it wasn’t until two years later that Texas finally announced the abolition of slavery in the state.
On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, General Granger rode into Galveston, Texas with over 1,800 troops and read the Third General Order, Which read
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves re free. This involves an absolute and equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
During the Civil War, white planters forcibly moved tens of thousands of slaves to Texas, hoping to keep them in bondage and away from the U.S. Army. Even after Lee surrendered, Confederate Texans dreamed of sustaining the rebel cause there. June 2, 1865, after the state’s rebel governor had already fled to Mexico, Confederate Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith agreed to surrender the state. For more than two weeks, chaos reigned as people looted the state treasury, and no one was certain who was in charge.
Many African- Americans fled, some across the river in Mexico, a less-remembered pathway to freedom in the decades before the Civil War. Others launched strikes or refused to work. But in a state where whites outnumbered slaves more than two –to-one, planters and ranchers did everything in their power to sustain slavery wherever they could.
Ending slavery was not simply a matter of issuing pronouncements. It was about forcing rebels to obey the law. To a v
ery real extent, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment amounted to a promissory notes of freedom. The real work on the ground of ending slavery and defending the rudiments of liberty was done by the “freedpeople” in collaboration with and backed by the force of the United States Army.
With their freedom in hand Texas slaves were at an impasse, do they leave the land that they have known and “work” for a master that has kept hem enslaved for years, or do they leave and celebrate their freedom on their own? Texas freedpeople kept alive the memory of emancipation and Reconstruction in ceremonies that eventually became named “Juneteenth.” Began in 1866, the year after the proclamation, and growing dramatically after an 1867 parade in Austin, Texas.
The festival in Tucson began in the 1970’s by residents that had relocated to Tucson from the South. According to Valerie Stanley Board President “African-American families from Texas and Louisiana who moved to Tucson and into the “A” mountain area formed the first official Tucson Juneteenth Festival Committed and the first Juneteenth Festival Celebration in 1970.”
In 2016, Arizona became the 45th state along with the District of Columbia, to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.
This will be the First year we will Celebrate Juneteenth as a National Holiday!
The Festival consists of a daylong celebration with: Music for all ages (local talent), basketball tournament, Poetry, Songs, Arts and crafts for children, Information booths, and retail sales of African American Artifacts, jewelry, pictures, Voter Registration, RED Cross, African American museum, Dance performances and of course keeping line with the original celebration plenty of food. BBQ ribs and Chicken, Fried Catfish, hamburgers, hot dogs, mac n- cheese, to name a few. The Festival is fun for the entire family of all ethnic backgrounds. Bring the family and have fun. “In addition to honoring the sacrifices made to establish the end of slavery more than 150 years ago, Juneteenth will highlight the ongoing fights to end all kinds of discrimination.”
If you would like more information, would like to Volunteer or be a part of the festival, contact: Larry Starks – Board President – President@tucsonjune19.org
To become a vendor or sponsor – vendors@tucsonjune19.org
Larry Starks is a Native Tucsonan, volunteering with the Juneteenth committee since 2015; He is also a Vail resident since 2006. Mr. Starks holds a BS in Criminal Justice, MBA/PA. Mr. Starks is the Transition Coordinator with CAPE school, as well as Adjunct Professor with Pima CC. president@tucsonjune19.org
