The first Emancipation Day celebration – once the Emancipation Proclamation was decreed on January 1, 1863 – took place in Port Royal, S.C. Some 250,000 enslaved African people living in Texas did not learn of their liberation until June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Many reasons have been cited for that delay, including the murder of a messenger and the deliberate withholding of information by slave owners. When word reached Texas, it sparked the celebration of Juneteenth, a term that combines the month of June and the nineteenth (19), the date when all African Americans were freed from chattel slavery. Former Texas slave Felix Haywood
exclaimed, “We was all walkin’ on golden clouds … everybody went wild … we was free. Just like that, we was free,” according to Lone Star Past: Memory and History in Texas.
Not all of those enslaved in Texas were released from bondage in 1865. Many were forced to remain in plantations until after the harvest. However, June 19 is considered by many African Americans as their Independence Day. As people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country, Juneteenth celebrations migrated with them. In 2021, Juneteenth was declared a national holiday in the United States.
While Juneteenth is considered a liberation day, we also want to recognize and celebrate the influence that enslaved African people had on our American cuisine. Do you drink Coca Cola, or coffee? Do you eat black-eyed peas? Like mac and cheese? Ever heard of jambalaya, gumbos, pepper pot, Saratoga chips? Do you eat watermelon? Well, the kola nut was chewed by Africans for caffeine. Okra, black-eyed peas, watermelon, some peppers – all were brought to our country by Africans. Macaroni and cheese is a dish created by James Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s chef, who trained in France. George Washington’s chef, Hercules, and Emmanuel Jones both gained national reputations as outstanding chefs after their transitions to freedom. Let us not forget sweet potato pie. Enslaved Africans used sweet potatoes as a substitute for yams, a root food eaten in much of the Caribbean. Methods of deep-frying fish and barbequing were also developed by enslaved African people, as they were the cooks on the plantations of North America. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., chef George Crum created our famous potato chip. Africa and African Americans contributed greatly to the many foods all Americans love.
This year the Greenbelt Black History and Culture Committee, in collaboration with Random Unselfish Acts of Kindness (RUAK), the Old Greenbelt Theatre (OGT) and small business sponsors Conquest Solutions, LLC, and the law offices of Johnine Clark are hosting the Chadwick Boseman Film Festival beginning on Thursday, June 16 at 5:30 p.m. with the movie 42. Airing on Saturday, June 18 at 8 p.m. is Da 5 Bloods, and on Monday, June 20 at 2 p.m. is Get On Up. Films are free, but donations are accepted.
The winners of the Prince George’s County Equal Justice Initial Essay Contest and the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project (PGCLMP) student art contest will be presented on Saturday, June 18 at 2:30 p.m. at the Community Center. The event is sponsored by the Greenbelt Black History and Culture Committee, in collaboration with Greenbelt Recreation and PGCLMP.
Also on Saturday, June 18 from noon to 3 p.m., The SPACE Free Art For All at Beltway Plaza, will feature a Poetry and Monologue Workshop led by Reneé Charlow, a former assistant to the late American playwright and poet Ntozake Shange.
All activities are free, so come out and enjoy the commemoration and celebrations of Juneteenth 2022.