Juneteenth will be celebrated all around the country this weekend. Juneteenth, which is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is the important holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Traditionally, red is one of the main colors of the holiday. Red symbolizes strength, perseverance, and spirituality. It symbolizes the struggle of those who came before us. We are getting ready with bright red, celebratory strawberries and lots of whipped cream – because what is more festive than strawberry pie?
Juneteenth celebrates the official end of slavery. This June 19th marks 159 years since Union troops arrived in Galveston to ensure that all of the 250,000 enslaved people were freed. News of the Emancipation Proclamation had been suppressed by slave owners in Texas. While the enslaved were technically freed on January 1, 1863, it took two years for the news to finally reach Texas. Jubilation ensued.
That inaugural Juneteenth celebration was in Texas, where they believe in doing things bigger and better. Texas barbecue and all its fixings are fitting for Juneteenth. In 2021 President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, establishing Juneteenth as our newest federal holiday. The White House celebrated Juneteenth with a concert on the South Lawn the other night. The President said,“Folks, Black history is American history.” He called Juneteenth, “a day of profound weight and power, a day to remember the original sin of slavery and the extraordinary capacity to merge the most powerful moments and painful moments with a better vision for ourselves.”
Some traditional Juneteenth foods are: cornbread, fried catfish, shrimp and grits, ribs, pulled pork, fried chicken, collard greens, Cajun gumbo, jambalayla, and potato salad. Make the kinds of foods you would have at a cookout, but be sure to have lots of traditional, celebratory red foods: watermelon, tomato salad, red beans and rice, red velvet cake and strawberry pie.“Watermelon and red soda water are the oldest traditional foods on Juneteenth,” said Dr. Ronald Myers, head of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation.
This Juneteenth I will be doing some home cooking to honor the legacy of the Black Texans on the anniversary of Emancipation Day. I will remember the enslaved cooks who brought African cooking to America, by cooking some of their traditional recipes which still enliven our cooking. I will even crack open a bottle or two of strawberry soda.
Matthew Raiford’s Juneteenth Recipes
If you are in Chestertown during the next couple of days, The Bayside H.O.Y.A.S. will be celebrating Juneteenth in style.“Heroes of the Chesapeake” theme on Friday, June 14, from 5–7 PM, and on Saturday, June 15, from 12– 6 PM., in Fountain Park.
For more info, visit their website: Bayside H.O.Y.A.S.
“Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory or an acceptance of the way things are. It’s a celebration of progress. It’s an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible—and there is still so much work to do.”
— Barack Obama
“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
