YESTERDAY WAS JUNETEENTH

I really should have posted this on Sunday. Better late than never, I guess.

From the Houston Chronicle:

In the 140 years since Union Army General Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island and pronounced Texas slaves freed, the Juneteenth holiday marking the June 19 event has been increasingly celebrated by blacks embracing their roots.

A Web site, juneteenth.com, offers a history of the holiday and a state-by-state listing of celebratory events. An online store has commemorative items: Juneteenth cups, caps, aprons, T-shirts and buttons.

Since the jubilation of 250,000 newly emancipated Texas slaves in 1865, Juneteenth festivities have moved from annual family barbecues to formal galas replete with jazz, blues and gospel artists.

Fueled by a heightened awareness of identity after the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and the political gains that followed, increasing numbers of blacks are remembering a part of their history.

Click here for the rest.

This is actually pretty cool. The traditional Texas celebration commemorating the freeing of enslaved African-Americans is apparently spreading to other states. Really, this is a celebration that white Americans would do well to observe, too. The end of the Civil War meant that blacks would no longer be slaves, but it also meant that whites would no longer be enslavers. That's one giant leap in our history toward civilization and national morality, a cause for rejoicing by all Americans.

In honor of the holiday, I give you the San Francisco Symphony's performance of the Duke Ellington classic, "Come Suday," via WebJay. The guy singing the Mahalia Jackson part is intense, very much in the Paul Robeson tradition. Check it out.

Happy Juneteenth! (Belatedly.)

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