HAPPY JUNETEENTH!!!!

[JSngry]

If you don't know what this is (and it's a BIG deal in Texas), take a few seconds and educate yourself: http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm

[relyles]

Its a big deal in places other than Texas as well.

[ghost of miles]

Happy Juneteenth to all... Bloomington sponsors a parade each year along w/IU's African American studies dpt. If you have it, be sure to spin Louis Jordan's 1940 song "Juneteenth Jamboree" (incorrectly labeled by Decca as "June Tenth Jamboree," because I'm sure the Decca execs had no clue re: Juneteenth). It's a great tune for a great day...

[maren]

Its a big deal in places other than Texas as well.

from yesterday's NY Times:

On Wednesday, the New York Legislature passed a bill to make Juneteenth an official, if ceremonial, state holiday, joining 13 other states, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Alaska, California and Texas.

Juneteenth celebrations range from backyard picnics to more formal events. In Hartford, the Wadsworth Atheneum art museum will open its 13th Juneteenth celebration with a black-tie gala on Friday night; in Guam, Anderson Air Force Base will celebrate with a dominoes tournament and gospel concert.

Monique Wells, a Houston native, organizes an annual Juneteenth picnic in Paris. "The first year, no one but me had even heard of Juneteenth," Ms. Wells said. "But everybody likes it. There's nothing sad about Juneteenth."

The holiday has taken root even in communities with relatively tiny black populations, like Portland and Chandler, Ariz., where a Miss Juneteenth pageant will be held Friday. Arizona's population is less than 4 percent black, but Lavon Woods, a pageant organizer, said: "There are always lots of white people who come. We don't have too many parties here as good as Juneteenth."

Alison Hood, who is white, said that as a girl growing up in Austin, Tex., she always envied the black children who went to big barbecue picnics and drank "red soda water" - strawberry soda, a Juneteenth tradition. Now, she says, she goes to the Austin picnic every year.

Blacks welcome the integration of the holiday.

"You'd think the end of slavery would be a holiday for all Americans," said Wade Woods, a member of the committee for Juneteenth in San Francisco, often cited as the oldest civic celebration outside the Southwest; Texas' neighboring states also have extensive celebrations. In the 1950's, Mr. Woods said, a transplanted Texan named Wesley Johnson put Juneteenth on the map there by annually donning a ten-gallon hat and riding a white horse down Fillmore Street - then the main drag of the black neighborhood.

This year, San Francisco's 54th Juneteenth event, which includes a posse of black cowboys, is expected to draw about 50,000 spectators.

[JSngry]

ALASKA?

[JSngry]

from yesterday's NY Times:

...."You'd think the end of slavery would be a holiday for all Americans," said Wade Woods....

Indeed!

But just as Juneteenth has it's roots in slow moving news...

[sheldonm]

I just returned from night #2 of the Indy Jazz Fest. Solomon Burke, while not a jazz musician reminded the crowd what Juneteenth is all about! By the way, Soloman did put on a good show B) .

[Jazzmoose]

But just as Juneteenth has it's roots in slow moving news...

I hear that. No mention of it around here. If it hadn't been for the history course I took a few years ago...

[RainyDay]

But just as Juneteenth has it's roots in slow moving news...

I hear that. No mention of it around here. If it hadn't been for the history course I took a few years ago...

JM: SF had a big celebration and Oakland has a Juneteenth festival every year.

[Jazzmoose]

That'll teach me to stay here in the boonies!

[RainyDay]

You're not reading your SF Chronicle.

[Jazzmoose]

Nah, we get the Mercury-News. You know, the paper that exposed the CIA drug connections and then crapped in their pants when they realized the CIA was going to fight back. Since then it's been pretty mindless...