As Juneteenth approaches, Jackson is ready to party, especially at the two Mississippi museums, where admission will be free all day. For Jackson, who is more than 82% Black, the day will have special meaning as a commemoration and celebration.
The museums will feature “Fifteenth Jubilee” events from 4pm to 7pm including live performances, a line dance workshop, crafts and themed tours of the museums topped off with Fratelli Italian Ice.
“One of our responsibilities here is to talk about Juneteenth and all of this complexity,” said Michael Morris, director of Mississippi’s Two Museums.
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Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to tell slaves that the war was over and they were emancipated, more than two months after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Although originally celebrated in Texas, the holiday spread throughout the United States as a celebration of emancipation.
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Two years ago, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Act, making Juneteenth an official federal holiday. At least 28 states and D.C. celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday, giving state employees a paid day off. Mississippi does not recognize Juneteenth, despite having one of the largest black populations in the country and the largest population of slaves freed in 1865, when the 13th amendment was ratified.
Hezekiah Watkins, once a freedom rider in Jackson since he was just 13, is now a docent at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. He was imprisoned more than 100 times during the movement and his mugshot is displayed alongside those of other young freedom activists on a wall in the museum.
“(Juneteenth) means a lot to me. It means a day of celebration,” she said. “It means a day to remember some of the things that happened back then.”
Watkins said he believes Juneteenth should be an official state holiday. This June 16, he hopes visitors will flock to the museum, not just from Jackson, but from the rest of Mississippi.
“This museum is in Mississippi, and the stories that are told, in my opinion, because I lived it, are real stories that happened,” he said. “I would love to see Mississippi come here and learn the real truth of what happened during that time.”
Just two months before June 16, Mississippi had another state holiday: Confederate Memorial Day. Unlike Juneteenth in the state, Confederate Memorial Day, April 29, was a paid day off for state employees.
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Marilyn Reed, a regular at both Mississippi museums, visited the museum to attend a speaker event on civil rights markers. She plans to bring her 10-year-old niece to the museum on June 16 to celebrate.
This time last year, Reed’s Juneteenth looked a little different. Reed, then a state employee, said she chose to take a personal day on June 16.
“I felt like, as a black woman, how could I attend Confederate Memorial Day and work on Juneteenth?” she said, adding that the only way for the state to change in the future is for people to register to vote, show up to the polls and talk to their elected officials.
“At the center of Juneteenth is freedom, honoring your ancestors, taking their vision and making it your own, expanding it and moving it forward,” Reed said.
John Spann, Outreach and Program Officer for the Mississippi Humanities Council, spoke at the event about new historical markers for The Mississippi Freedom Trail that Reed attended on June 11. For Spann, Juneteenth is also about legacy and forging a connection between the past and present.
“The reason we even have a federal holiday is because people have been doing that memory work to explain what Juneteenth is and work,” he said.
This year, with the anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer, when thousands of student volunteers came to the state to register people to vote, Spann said Juneteenth’s legacy is more obvious as it parallels the Civil Rights Movement. For Jackson, the two are interconnected as the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement remembers the country’s first step forward.
“The fact that there are so many events happening really shows how important this event is to the African American community in general, but specifically here in the city of Jackson,” Morris said. “We are excited to be a part of all the celebrations taking place.”
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