In honor of Juneteenth, Museum of the African Diaspora docents presents photographs that capture the energy and magnificence of Juneteenth celebrations from earlier decades. They share photos found in several public domain archives while discussing the historical, political and cultural significance of the holiday.
Read below for a full transcript of the conversation.
Natalie Hicks - Good afternoon and good evening. My name is Natalie Hicks and I am an analyst on First Republic Lending Services Team. And I also serve as the Nonprofit Chair for Beam, or Black Employees and Allies Achieving Magnitude. Which is a colleague community for our black employees and our allies. And we are excited today to have you join us as we honor and celebrate Juneteenth with the Museum of African Diaspora. This important day is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of slavery in the United States. And in 1863, Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation granted freedom to enslave black people in Confederate States. However, news did not reach the enslaved nor was it enforced until June 19th, 1865. When Union General, Gordon Granger, and 2000 union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the legal freedom of enslaved people. Since then, celebrations have occurred annually on June 19th to honor a monumental day in our country's history and some even acknowledged Juneteenth as America's second independence day. So I am pleased to introduce one of today's special guest Sedey Gebreyes, and she's the Education Program Manager at MoAD. So before we start a quick housekeeping note, at the end of the event, we will answer the questions you submit. And to submit a question, please use the Q and A icon at the bottom of the screen. Also, this event is being recorded and replay will be posted on First Republic's website. So please let's give a warm welcome to Sedey.
Sedey Gebreyes - Thank you, Natalie. That was a really nice introduction. I appreciate it. My name is Sedey Gebreyes and I work in the education department at Museum of the African Diaspora as Natalie introduced me. And I would like to introduce my manager, actually, Demetri, who is here with me to do this presentation today.
Demetri Broxton - My name is Demetri Broxton, the Senior Director of Education at MoAD. And we're really excited to be here with you. So many people, this is exciting
Sedey - Actually, I'm curious where folks are joining us from, so if you can put it in the Q and A, just to see where folks are geographically located as they join us. Oh wow, okay.
Demetri - All over the country. This is amazing.
Sedey - It's very exciting. San Diego, New York, Boston. Oh, wow. Bay area folks. Oh wow, okay. Thank you so much for putting that in the chat, and for representing a geographic location of where you are. All right, we're excited to be here with you today although today's not obviously not Juneteenth but a couple of days away from it. It's nice that you chose to celebrate Juneteenth with us. And before we go ahead, if you have one of the things that I will mention is that if you have any thoughts or any questions, as Natalie said that you can put them in Q and A, and we will read them. And we will answer them or read them. And that way we can engage. It's an engaging and participatory experience for us both. And before I move on, I would like to invite you to stand with us in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. And we'll take a moment to honor the lives that we have lost to police violence and state sanctions, police brutality. Thank you so much. And as many of her as our settler immigrants or descendants of those forcefully brought to this continent, our institutions were founded upon exclusions and erasures of the indigenous peoples who people whose land we are located. With deep respect, MoAD acknowledges that even in virtual space, our people, our work and our network servers are our native lands.
And thanks the indigenous people of the Bay Area who extorted this land throughout the generations. Thank you so much, everyone. All right, so Natalie introduced us to the history. Shared a little bit of the history of Juneteenth. Thank you so much and so in a little bit we can dive right into our presentation beforehand, since it helps to connect it with the visual learners that we have. It helps to connect the history with visuals. So let's just take a look at this map. I promise this is the last map we're sharing today. Demetri, do you want to talk about this just a little?
Demetri - Sure, sure. Yes again, we had a really amazing introduction to the idea. There was a few other things that were going on. So when Abraham Lincoln announces the emancipation proclamation on January 1st, the myth is that all enslaved folks in the south were free. The truth is that only the ones that were really close to union lines, who could quickly get across the line, and into freedom were the ones who could actually claim their own freedom. Obviously the south pushed against this for a very long time. If we really connect history, the civil war was still going on and it was going on really strong at this time and so there was massive resistance to fraying enslaved folks from bondage. And once the union troops... We take it for granted now in 2021. We can send a mass text to everyone. We can pick up a telephone if we have to. Mail is super duper fast for the most part. So, really, it took them a long time. And because of the resistance, union troops had to physically march to tell people that they were free. People are putting where they're from. I might turn that off for myself. And Texas was the furthest place in the west. And so what ended up happening was people from slave states like Virginia, North Carolina, just for an example, would send their enslaved folks to Texas because it was the furthest away. And they could still get a little bit more time out of them and laboring in Texas.
There was also several other things that happened. When the emancipation proclamation was announced, there was the battle at Galveston where the Confederate forces actually took over Galveston. And so anyway, all these things happened that really slowed down the progress in freeing folks from bondage. We also have to remember thinking about the 13th amendment wasn't passed by the Senate until April 8th, 1864. So a whole year, almost a year and a half later, and then approved by the house in January of 1865. So, there's always every year questions about like, why did it take two and a half years for them to be freed? Sedey, I think you're on mute. You're on mute.
Sedey - Thank you, Demetri. And I think that Natalie also mentioned Ganter. And he marched into Galveston with the union troops. And door to door, field to field, house to house. The soldiers went and announced this. And I wonder what it felt like as a soldier. A lot of the soldiers were also black. So they were African-American soldiers. Union soldiers that were going to African American households announcing the freedom. Going to workplaces or the fields and announcing the freedom, so I wonder what that was like. And to me, I think about this image right here, which is Waiting for the Hour. It's a Carte-de-visite which is like a business card of its time. That shows that waiting that was happening until things announced and what we see up there is kind of a statue of Liberty up there. You can almost feel the tension in that room, the waiting in that room. And imagine somebody walking in and announcing, it's actually here, you are free. So, yeah. And one of the union soldiers that we see here, and I don't know if he actually marched there but it is an image that gives us an idea of what they looked like and what their uniforms were like in and as a pocket book, they would carry a note much like the one you see in the picture and as a pocket book to read the proclamation to people. Although the General didn't actually read the proclamation but he paraphrased it and read it to two folks.
And another thing I want to point out, is the significance of the banner. And you might see it in so many places at the moment. And the banner has a lot of significance and the quintessential American colors, red, blue and white are there. And then we see in the heart of the flag, we see the lone star, the Texas star, the five pointed star in there. And then we see this burst that comes out from the back, which is the newfound freedom and the joy and the expansion of that freedom. And we also see the red, which I think, like all things African diaspora there is doubled meaning, right? So there's double meaning to things. And the red is the bloodshed by people before us. And so by those who've who fought for freedom and the arch that you see is for the new horizon. The possibilities. I mean, imagine, right? So just to be able to imagine a free future for your children, and for your family and for your community. It's such a important banner and there's I think, personally think it's such a joyful image as well. I see sunrise, I see so many things that helped me celebrate the holiday. Although, the start of the holiday was bittersweet. So it took this long for us to be free. So thinking about those kinds of things. And then the weak part though, is that we think about red foods, red velvet cake. If you think of... Oh, I see Oakland folks. Hey, Bay Area. And so red velvet cake, we think about red drinks, red strawberry drinks. So red is the thematic color of the Juneteenth celebration. So for Juneteenth this Saturday, have something red. I recommend something red, all right. The first image we're looking at is this one. So I'll give you a moment to look at this photo, and let us know what you think. What do folks think? What do they see?
Demetri - That's really awesome. The photo was sold to the SF Chronicle.
Sedey - Yeah, it was. So one of the people featured, Ms. Grace Murray, had sold her diary to SF Chronicle, which I think the connection is so cool here. And one of the things I do want to point out is that, Juneteenth was not just a celebration, but also reclaiming space and ownership of space. And what ended up happening, particularly in Texas, is buying of lots, folks putting their money together in the following years after emancipation. Putting their money together and buying lots that were used for celebration or for public use. And we'll look at one of the parks that's called Emancipation Park, actually. And we'll look at how folks celebrated throughout the year set up park. So yeah, it was also... I like that reaction of immediately the economic movement right after emancipation.
Demetri - Yeah, and just for me also imagining like in this photograph, these folks are older. So you really have to think about the fact that they experienced slavery. This is 1900, these folks are definitely over 40 years old at this point. And so they actually went through this experience of being freed and having folks that they know are being freed. because some of them could have already been freed, men and women prior to the photo. We don't know much about their story directly, but there's all these things that you can read in between the lines. And they're gathered together. They're able to make their own decisions about their future for the first time. Everyone again, I just want to go back. Everyone wasn't necessarily freed, even on Juneteenth and some folks, were scared of, what is freedom? What is it like to be away from this plantation that I was born on, that I've only ever known? Like, where do I go? And then also, how do I feed myself? Because my folks were were free, they didn't have money necessarily. And so also going back to the soldier, a lot of the soldiers brought food. They brought resources, they provided transportation. A lot of the black soldiers, but as well as white union soldiers were helping people to claim their freedom. It's a lot like right now if you just release someone from prison and you don't give them any money, you don't give them any options. You don't connect them to something, what do you do? And so the union soldiers played a really great role in that but then also the freed folks who are able to support those, and bring them up north or just help them to settle on a piece of land that was theirs.
Sedey - Thank you for that. And I really liked the comments that we've been getting also is that, Jane says a beautiful photo of freed people. I agree, it's such a beautiful, and I can feel the pride there too. Marion says, they are very well dressed, of course. And you'll see that other posts that will show also. It's a dressed up kind of holiday. I think nowadays it's a little bit different, but they would dress up too, to the nice when they go to these events. It is a big, big deal as it is now. But to show dignity as well.
Demetri - I want to call out also, Janet says I appreciate their standing so tall and owning their space. Love the lady on the left with the head held high, and staring down the lens is really impactful for me.
Sedey - Exactly, and then we have a anonymous attendee that says pride, sadness, dignities, desire to fit it. And Eric says the emergence of black bourgeoisie, all right. And then, Kitson says they all look so funnily dressed. Yeah, wow. That's so great. Thank you so much for your comments.
Demetri - Julie has a question about women being able to afford such nice dresses, or whether they bought or sewed their dresses themselves. And really, it's a combination. Julie, like some folks really did have the skill to be able to do that, but they would definitely also be able to go to a seamstress or a tailor too. Because we always had those, even during enslavement, who made the slave masters clothes? Who repaired the slave masters clothes? So those skills existed within the community, and folks when they were freed, could do that for themselves.
Sedey - Yeah, this is also five years after. Even before that in the northern states, you could find business owners that were specifically working on garments and fashion design. And so the effect that the availability of clothes and fabric also was there. There were black business owners that owned the garment making businesses, at the time in the northern states. And we saw this image when we first came in with Bellwethers music. What do folks think of this? Again, this is in 1900. I see dignity, Cate says I see dignity. Debra says elegant dignity for the previous photo as well. See Gordon says this photo shows so much dignity. I think dignity is the word. All right, many folks dressed to the night. Okay, Peter says from Chicago, many folks dressed to the nice today when going to church, that's right. Debbie says, the Victorian style is very elegant but also speaks to that erasure of culture and adaptation of Western culture by necessity. Yeah. I'm sorry, go ahead.
Demetri - No, there's a couple questions, I'm sorry.
Sedey - Go ahead, it's moving at the same time.
Demetri - It does move really fast, but yeah, there's a lot of questions or comments about the flag and yeah. Like just thinking about, I think the flag. America is is a very African-American country, and always has been. We can go off on on like even the White House being built by enslaved people's hands. And so, if a person builds it, they're going to infuse something of themselves in it. They're not just following a plan. Something of their essence, their philosophy, their culture gets infused within that. So, thinking about that we can argue that the flag is very black as well as it's white within America. And so, African-Americans have always wanted to claim the flag as their own. In recent years, or I guess more than recent years, we've definitely had to contend with a country not necessarily wanting us or treating us right, but I think African-Americans have always viewed the flag with pride. This is our country as well.
Sedey - Yeah. I see here, what was Ms. Grace's occupation for the previous photo? I actually don't know. I'm curious with you on that one. And did her diary say? I'm really curious about it. I didn't find it, but I think it's definitely something to look up and learn. I'm curious with you and lots of comments on pride. I appreciate that. Speaking of pride, happy pride and happy Father's day. June is full of holidays, so I'm glad that we're here. And I see Kitson loved the music choice. The sun makes me so happy. I know , Bellwethers, it's like every time it's on. All right, precursor to jazz. And I think it's important to also see what was happening in the north end states and what was happening, what was already taking place in terms of art and art and culture and how that came to be fused with what was already there in the south, because there was a lot happening in the creative field, in the north end states as well. So when we talk about jazz and other things, so if you look at the time 1900, it has a lot happening with in the black community in terms of creativity.
So this is such a cool photo. I like it because first of all, getting everybody in one place to take this photo when you have slow exposure. And of course, I see some people smiling in this picture as well. So they've managed to hold their pose for that long. Imagine holding your smile for more than 20 seconds. It's a little painful, but we see a family here. The family that we see here are Reverend Jack Yates, who purchased the park which is Emancipation Park, which still gets used. Kids play out there, folks barbecue, it's used for multiple types of celebrations. He's a reverend and his daughter Sally Yates is also right in the middle, wearing black. And we'll see other photos of her as well. And so the park was purchased in 1872, not too long after Emancipation Day or Juneteenth. And you see that family here, you'll see the reverend as well on the left.
Demetri - And I think also Yates is just this really interesting character. And I want to know more about him. And I think I need to get myself over to Houston to learn a little bit more about him. But he's actually born in Virginia, and his wife was taken to Texas. And so he followed her to Texas. And so, it's this whole thing of like they... We're going to see so many photos of this family, and Yates in his offspring because of just how impactful they were. And so he was able to free his wife. He was able to buy her freedom. He was able to become literate, as an enslaved person in Virginia. And he's just this huge figure, because he was also a minister and started a church. Antioch Missionary Baptist church would still exist in Houston. His house was moved to the park. It was originally in the fourth ward in Houston. And then they moved it as a monument to Sam Houston park in Houston. And this family is just phenomenal. So I'm excited too, that we're highlighting them. And he was so instrumental in bringing celebration, bringing freedom, bringing education, bringing spirituality to African-Americans that there's even a school named after him still in Houston.
Sedey - Wow. See, I didn't know that. Thank you, Demetri. And I see Kitson says, "Do you think that all of the ladies' dresses were made from the same fabric?" Oh, I wonder about that too. I wish Remy was here, she's our fashion expert. Yeah, and Kay says music held people together during enslavement and continued to be important expression, especially in celebration of being free. Thank you for that. Music is definitely so important to this day. Like expression in music is very very important. And Jane says they should claim the flag. I think that flag got so much attention. They should claim a flag of the country's multicultural, multiethnic. 100% in agreement with you, James. Yes. Oh, what sort of music would they have played? Jefferson is asking. Anybody from the attendees? I will go back to them.
Demetri - Oh my God, George Floyd attended Yates high school? No way, get out of town.
Sedey - Seriously? I did not know that.
Demetri - That's awesome, Shayan.
Sedey - Yeah. Oh, wow. Now I don't know what kind of music. Oh, my partner's mother attended Yates high school. Oh, wow. Thanks Margaret.
Demtetri - Yeah, I mean it's 1900s so I would step out. And did someone say that Eastwoods Park is actually in Chicago or did I just make that up. I thought it was Houston for some reason. Yeah, but just based on the instruments and all. Yeah, I mean it's 1900 though. So we're definitely playing the blues and we're getting into jazz at this period. So not big band jazz yet.
Sedey - Yeah, and I wonder why some of the women are wearing black instead of white. Yeah.
Demetri - Dim color choice. Where's Remy at? But I think color choice, didn't that have something to do with your marital status, or am I just making stuff up? I know someone in the group knows the answer. Let's go with the hive mind.
Sedey - Bree says, that's a great question. You've given us homework to do.
Demetri - Yes. I know Rumi knows those kinds of things.
Sedey - That's right. Bluegrass, they were wondering about the music.
Demetri - Kitson says it may have something to do with church doctrine. Yeah, your role and what color you wear.
Sedey - Yeah. Oh, that's right because this is a church family as well. Yeah. Upbeat jazz music, yeah.
Demetri - Oh yeah, Ragtime is secure. You're right.
Sedey - Mother also attended Yates high school. I'm sorry?
Demetri - No, no, no, no, sorry. Sorry, someone said it could also be ragtime music, and someone is also saying black is like mourning and widowhood but if when we look at photographs from this time period, black also was a very common color in the Victorian era. It didn't show stains as readily, and you only had a couple of clothes. So, I don't... Okay. So I don't think that we can say it's just because of morning, because there's a lots of elegant women who had their pictures taken that were married or with their husband at the time that weren't in morning diet also wore black at the time.
Sedey - So there's Martha Yates, and speaking of white, this is all white. This is a celebration white, so we'll see. What do folks think about these horse buggies? Yeah. By the way, they're right next to a church.
Demetri - I think their father's church, right?
Sedey - I think so, I think so.
Demetri - Sorry, I found it. I was like, I know I saw that somewhere in my notes. This is New Antioch Church and Martha was said to cook in the church often. And she would cook for the bricklayers, the carpenters and laborers, during the construction of the church. So it also just has this really deep connection for her. This family is all heavily involved in this church. And yeah, can you imagine these gorgeous carriages? I mean, so many of them are covered in flowers on parade in celebration of emancipation.
Sedey - I see comments, Martin made a comment about the bill that's passing on to the Senate. Anonymous attendee says that, the picture really shows the gift and the talents of African-American after such a short period of time, look at what they have accomplished. Playing music instruments, photography. So these pictures in the eyes of others could be viewed negatively because of the progression of African-Americans. Well, you know what? You should also come to our other presentations. because we talk about the 1900 Paris exposition that W.E.B Dubois had taken to Paris. And there's so many photos, so many photographs that we show the diversity of African-Americans wealth wise and professional-wise and all those kinds of things. I'm glad you made that point. Linda says the color wasn't necessarily black, could have been dark blue or in suspended in that sad that black and white, we will never know. We will never know. So yeah. Folks are loving the flowers, labor of love. And Jessica, they show such joy and pride. Yeah, the floor decoration game is strong. And this predates flower throwing, I guess there's a Texan holiday in Alamo. There's like a flower throwing holiday after drought, after two days of rain, folks started throwing flowers and decorating flowers and this predates this practice of decorating the horse buggies predate style, actually. All right, if you love that picture, you might appreciate this one, which is a bit blurry. So I haven't enlarged it. Yeah, rose parade entirely entry.
Demetri - Yeah, this is another church and this one's in Corpus Christi.
Sedey - Yeah.
Demetri - I mean this one is just absolutely covered in flowers. Entirely, every single section of it.
Sedey - Oh, so cool. It's just something angelic about this one too. I don't know, maybe the wings. They look like wings. Like the saddle is where, I don't know what that's called a in the buggy.
Demetri - Someone's also asking about Juneteenth. So yes, Danielle is asking, was Juneteenth celebrated mostly in Texas at first, then spread to other states? So yes, yes. It was definitely something that was centered in Texas exclusively, but wherever folks from Texas, African-Americans from Texas moved, they would bring the celebration along with them. So I am here in Oakland and my entire life, we've had the big celebration in South Berkeley. I think last year was the first year we didn't have it. There's a big one in San Francisco, huge one and San Jose that has been happening for over 30 years, so yeah. And I don't know, I'm sure other places around the country, I can only speak to the ones that I'm very familiar with in the bay area. But I think there's one in LA also that's pretty large and it's been going on for over 30 years.
Sedey - And these are early celebrations. We're looking at early Juneteenth celebrations. There are so many celebrations that take place and that have been archived, recorded in archives. So you can also find those images on the internet. I see that Kitson is reminding us that Africans came here to America with music. The banjo is an African instrument as it is the foundation of all American music. Yes. Going back to that, thank you for that. Barbara is commenting social status. Massachusetts has recently declared the date a state holiday, I did not know that. Thank you, Enzo.
Demetri - And let's not forget the bill that passed yesterday.
Sedey - Yeah, somebody brought that up earlier, yeah?
Demetri - Yeah, I see it again. That just has to go to the house.
Sedey - It just passed.
Demetri - Did it today?
Sedey - I think it might have.
Demetri - Okay, I've been busy today, so yeah. Keep us at the house past eight per CNN. That's awesome. So it did happen today.
Sedey - Oh, wow.
Demetri - Awesome, perfect timing.
Sedey - Perfect timing.
Demetri - It moves fast.
Sedey - Yeah, look at this one. I'm looking at the flag. I think it's a flag or a banner on top of the horse. It kind of reminds me of... Is it the Texas flag? I'm not entirely sure.
Demetri - No, there's no stripes in the Texas flag.
Sedey - There isn't, right? Okay.
Demetri - I don't know, yeah. Or maybe it's a stripped blanket, I don't know. The House passed it today. We've been busy on zoom meetings, so we missed the news.
Sedey - Oh wow, thank you. Thanks for letting us know.
Demetri - But you know, you can also see in this picture the other horses behind them. So, just imagining this parade and the way that they decorated the wheels on this one. Just imagine as they're moving with the flowers and different colors rolling along with them. It's just amazing. I wish we still did this today. So maybe they will bring back the parades with the flower carriages.
Sedey - I could totally see this happening in Oakland.
Demetri - Yes, yes. For sure, for sure. I just hope folks and the audience get a chance. We were talking earlier about how folks just this year, I guess most of them are still going virtual. But next year really having... They're going to open up again. So I hope people go out because I think, my whole life it's mostly just been African-Americans who go to Juneteenth festivals, but I think there's a lot for anyone to learn, you know?
Sedey - Okay, John says I'm an immigrant from Australia. And the one thing that strikes me, is that United States has never come to a reconciliation nor acknowledgement of its history. This is an absolutely a necessity in order to come to terms with it's past. What will it take to get this done? That's a great comment. Thank you, John.
Demetri - I don't know if this is the original rose parade. It's possible, I have no idea.
Sedey - I have no idea. Yeah, Reece, I agree with you.
Demetri - So yeah, also just on the history of these Juneteenth celebrations, they were huge especially through, I don't know if we're going to get into later days with this in the presentation, but they continue to happen all the way up until about the Great Depression. And then they kind of fell out because it was the great depression, everyone was fighting to survive at that time but then they saw a re-emergence during the civil rights era. So just a history of Juneteenth celebrations.
Sedey - I just love this picture. There's a Juneteenth queen and yeah. And also corporations started to sponsor floats as well. In the archives, you would see some photos of corporate sponsors floats. They get more and more intricacies, really cool.
Demetri - Someone is asking, can we explain what Juneteenth is? So Juneteenth, I think, we spoke about this at the beginning. And Natalie did a really amazing job at it at explaining what Juneteenth is, actually. So it's a contraction of June and 19th. So it's the day that sold union soldiers marched into Galveston, Texas, to announce to 250,000 enslaved people that they had actually been freed for a while. So the very last people to find out and be freed. And it took the Union Army to go in.
Sedey - That's great. And also known as Jubilee Day or Emancipation Day. So for folks, it's interchangeable. That's cool. This photo is one of my favorites. Is there are another carriage? Where is the person standing? That's my question.
Demetri - Do you see the shotgun houses? If you've been down to the south, you know those.
Sedey - It's an amazing photo. I see that there's a comment from Tracy that says it's beautiful to see the color white and all the photos as it symbolizes wealth, purity and freedom and pride whether it had wealth or not, they weren't proud. The color white definitely has a lot of significance in the history and religious and spiritual practice of the African diaspora. The color white and blue. Also red, so it makes sense. Juneteenth has those colors as well. Juneteenth banner has those colors as well. Oh man, time flies by, we only have about 10 minutes. This was in Richmond, Virginia and their Emancipation Day did not come until April 3rd, 1865. Speaking of different times, different months, this is one of those as well. And if you look at this photo, this is in 1905. And it's, for some reason it's just strikes me as a much more modern day photo.
Demetri - There's is definitely kind of moving out starting to... Well, I guess there still are in the Victorian era, but so it's starting to move through the different fashion and it feels very urban here, right? The last ones were definitely more in a country side setting. And yeah, I see a lot of questions about the roles, both the rose bowl and the rose parades. And I don't think there's a connection at all. I think they existed very differently. And I don't know if the photos that we have, it's hard to tell though. Maybe they just happen simultaneously but the photos that we have are from around 1900 and the first rose parade really started in 1890. So they almost happened at the same time, but in very different parts of the country. So I don't know. It's a good question. Yeah. Uh-oh, I can't hear you anymore Nope. I think it's the earbuds, but yeah. I mean, just looking at this sense of excitement that that happened. And so we've got so many kids here that didn't experience slavery, but it's still the celebration. There's still a hope because obviously we didn't have all the right still, we didn't have all the voting rights. Jim Crowe was still in full effect. I think there's a sense of just fighting against that and standing up against that, to continue the fight for equal justice and rights.
Sedey - Are you able to hear me now?
Demetri - Yes, yes, yes.
Sedey - Okay, all right. The kids in these photos, The signage in the back, this photo is just such an amazing photo with folks looking out their window looking at the parade as well. And speaking of looking out the window, check out this photo. This is also in Virginia.
Demetri - And this one's much later.
Sedey - Yeah, this is much later
Demetri - I know, but we still get the Shapiro's Department Store.
Sedey - Yes Don't know if this photo was sponsored, right?
Demetri - That was probably a really good vantage point.
Sedey - That's right, yeah.
Demetri - Wow, the tools for victory though. So we're talking about war and this one.
Sedey - And this one is, clothes made by shipyard workers of the shipwright department in Newport news. And that's what we're looking at right now is the clothes. So, you know...
Demetri - Again, going into the same thing of like, just thinking about the... I think Juneteenth celebrations, were this another central point for folks that get together to try to fight for their rights. And to remember, hey, we were once enslaved. We were freed but we don't have our full freedom. It just immediately makes me think of folks that enlisted in, and the war efforts to try to become more of an American citizen. Thinking that if I go fight for this country, and not just African-Americans, but I'm thinking native Americans, Latinex folks, Asian Americans. If I go and fight for this country, when I return back as a hero, I will have more rights. My people will have more rights. Which is something that we just have always seen on and on throughout history.
Sedey - Demetri, did you get a chance to explain what shotgun houses are?
Demetri - Oh, no. Did someone do someone ask?
Sedey - Yeah, a couple people.
Demetri - Y'all have to go to like check out project row houses in Houston also, but just in in the south they're really, I think, I always associate them with African-American housing where, they call them a shotgun house because if you fired a shotgun through the front door, it would go out the back door. So there's just really narrow houses. And oftentimes, you really did see the the back door from the front door.
Sedey - Yeah. Oh, Newport News. Not Rhode Island, Kitson, Newport News, Virginia. I didn't know that either. I thought Rhode Island the first as well.
Demetri - This is 1944. So yeah, world war II efforts.
Sedey - I loved the investigation of the rose bowl. That's happening--
Demetri - I do too that, I do that also.
Sedey - Thank you, Kitson. And I think somebody else also did a bit of the research.
Demetri - Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it sounds you're saying Chicago has lots of shotgun houses they were worker housing. Jean says the tools for victory are not guns but woodworking tools.
Sedey - Oh wow, okay.
Demetri - Or tools for to be able to construct the ships and things.
Sedey - Kitson with most full history, thank you. Todd says that it looks like there was a drone on the tools from victory. Yes.
Demetri - The earliest, earliest drone.
Sedey - Yes. And then we make our way eventually always, right? To Florida, and this is in Florida. You might've guessed based on the photo, what era? I'll let you guess.
Demetri - I mean, we can just look at this woman's dress, right? Everybody is so far as hitting up the twenties.
Sedey - The twenties, that's right. The roaring twenties as they were called, I guess. And we can see that this is in Florida and they have... I think theirs was May. May 1865 was their emancipation. Oh no, I'm sorry, January. Yeah, it isn't May. I'm sorry, I'm trying to place all these dates of the places, but it was May 1865, is, I think, their emancipation day. May 20th, yes, yes. It's in my notes.
Demetri - I love just to get down on the ground with this one. The photographer is with the folks and standing in the middle of the parade as it's going by.
Sedey - Not the drone style.
Demetri - Yeah, not the drone style. It's like you can almost hear the music. You can hear the chatter, the excitement, the conversations going on. It makes me want to go out and experience the parade again.
Sedey - Me too, it's impressive. And our last slide before I turn it over to Natalie is this one, and I just love this one. And the reason why I like it is because they were children. And the folks that work with children are holding hands with the kids as the parade goes by. And it reminds me of handing over of this bit of history, the fact of celebration. So I really appreciate this photograph. And thank you so, so, so much for joining us today. And I want to thank Demetri also for doing this presentation with me, then I'm going to turn it right over to Natalie.
Natalie - Thank you. Thank you so much today, Demetri. We sincerely appreciate you for making today's event such a memorable experience and helping us honor Juneteenth. And I just want to add as a reminder that a replay of this session will be available on the First Republic website. So thank you everyone, be well. Goodbye and have a great evening and afternoon.
