Spring Break
Festivities to celebrate Juneteenth
Holiday commemorates African heritage, culture and history
By: Patrique Ludan
Issue date: 6/18/09 Section: News
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Juneteenth is a national holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed in Galveston and brought the news to slaves in Texas that they were free, although the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued almost two and a half years earlier. The Civil War had ended about two months earlier with Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender.
The annual celebration at Texas A&M University starts with the Freedom Walk at 9 a.m. Thursday, which begins at the Lincoln Recreational Center and ends at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The event will be on Thursday, rather than Friday, due to scheduling conflicts.
The Freedom Walk was established for children to talk with adults about what Juneteenth means to African-Americans, said Chelita Johnson, coordinator for events at the Lincoln Recreation Center.
After the Freedom Walk, participants may listen to a storyteller at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the George Bush library.
Freedom's Legacy: Drumbeats of African American Heritage, the public storytelling concert, and Echoes of Africa as Historical Concepts, a teachers' seminar, will be by storyteller, entertainer and educator Elizabeth Kahura.
Born in Kenya, Kahura was recruited by a U.S. company to teach and tell stories about African culture. The main focus of her organization is knowledge enrichment to society, she said.
"The first event I am doing is a teachers' seminar," Kahura said. "We are showing the teachers folktales from Africa and connecting them to the outside world."
The seminar is meant to implement integrated storytelling into the teachers' curriculum, Kahura said.
In Freedom's Legacy: Drumbeats of African American Heritage, Kahura will tell a story about community connectedness.
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