Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 91

Sun June 15 1975 FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM 1-a WM 30000 celebrants expected for revived Juneineenth Last year's efforts to bring Juneteenth out of hibernation were considered successful by organizers of the event Last year a newly formed organization called Community Development Fund Inc and a group of citizens from Fort Worth's black communities decided to revive a popular celebration among Texas blacks It's called Juneteenth and it commemorates June 19 1865 the day Texas slaves received word of their freedom Many black Texans especially those now considered senior citizens remember the gaiety the games the food and the speeches associated with this observance But others the younger ones who came along when Juneteenth celebrations were unpopular if not frowned upon cannot relate to the "good ole days" of barbecue and red soda The theme adopted for the observance is "Reclaiming Our Past to Enhance Our Future" "The Juneteenth Committee has combined the best of Juneteenth celebrations of years past blended with its contemporary meaning and providing a continuity for its relevance in the future" Masters said Jtmeteenth also has been proclaimed a Bicentennial project This year's observance was broadened to encompass a variety of activities A TALENT CONCERT will kick off the festivities at 3 pm Sunday in Farrington Field The concert cosponsored by radio stations KNOK and KKDA will reflect black music tradition in the form of rock rhythm and blues and jazz Fifteen groups from Fort Worth Dallas Corsicana Denton and Euless are expected to partidpate in this event Admission is $2 Other new attractions at this year's festival to be in Sycamore Park unless otherwise specified will be a western show featuring area riding clubs and a superstar sports competition for adults A Juneteenth Gospel Review will be conducted at 8:30 pm Tuesday at Mount Olive Baptist Church here at Evans and Baker streets The free gospel show is dedicated to the impact of religion on black history Participants will include local choirs and amateur ensembles "MOVED BY THE SPIRIT of renewal and revival the 1974 Juneteenth celebration became a vehicle which moved more than 10000 mostly black people to Sycamore Park for a full day of celebration activities" Henry Masters executive director of the Community Development Fund said The response to the 1974 celebration encouraged this year's organizers to aim for a more involved festivity Consequently the second annual Juneteenth celebration was expanded to five days June 15-19 and is expected to attract about 30000 people It ''4 1 -r1: 4'- '1 tp -1 4 )-1 1H '1 '''t '''4: i 4 ltioae" 41:: k4-: "74p --A''0' ''''7: ie 41''' 4:: -ik i 0i -'T' 4 V74t)4 -tr 0 AAk 404-: 7 N1 ot i tiP1' 'E-': 4 ''4' ik ''i4i i --44e: 4 4 4: 4 N' ituagoio aolit 7 i iIg: A4 0 Ft v'''''''' I tgiV :14: 1:::::: 4 3 't 4:::: A 4 4Itioloollipt rr4'''Z''-1 10 ''q4 'kl 0 ittit'z'lrt4: Ar 1: ::::4 4''' ei A I i j415 :4 :41 i 1 ti I :4 ::4::: 4- 1: -1 e- 4 N-4: 4 Ai1- i 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Winners will be announced Thursday Prof charts march of historic day Juneteenth significant to all The melting pot concept nevee was Dr Banks said "It was a meltirig pot in that some of the ingredients of everybody went into the soup But the beans and the peas and the corn all remained the same And that's good because it's diversity Just like the Jews and their religious practices Just like the blacks and some of their music practices" During that period of cultural deprivation some blacks didn't want their children attending all black schools because they didn't think black teachers were good enough Dr Banks said "Some of them even left the black church I think they were sincere about it They had been hunting a hundred years for the promised land and thought they had it The discovered they didn't have it And they discovered that no group in America has given up everything it possesses in order to become a part of a melting pot that didn't exist" Dr Banks said If there's anybody qualified to speak on the significance of Juneteenth it's Dr Melvin Banks chairman of the division of social sciences at Dallas' Bishop College Dr Banks who has taught at Bishop 40 yearsdoesn't have to refer to a history book when asked about Juneteenth He has seen Juneteenth in its heyday has seen its decline and now is witnessing its rebirth Dr Banks was born in Montgomery Ala He was educated at Howard University and the University of Colorado He received his doctorate in history and political science at Syracuse University His doctoral dissertation was on "The Quest of Equality: The Movement for First-Class Citizenship Among Negroes in Texas 1920-1950" A few months ago Dr Banks sat in his cluttered Bishop College office and retraced the origins of Juneteenth It began on June 19 1865 when Gen Gordon Granger landed on Galveston and issued in the name of the US government a proclamation declaring all of the approximately 200000 slaves in Texas free The word got to Texas slaves two years after the proclamation went into effect We salute The Community Development Fund Inc and the Fort Worth's Juneteenth Committee for the work they are doing in our community ing slavery But on the whole slavery throughout the state slavery as an institution was abolished" Dr Bankssaid I THE EARLIEST Juneteenth celebrations were occasions for political rallying where the newly freed slaves received voting instructions "It was a day when subjects of interest were discussed It was a day for great games Later on baseball and other activities became part of the festival It was a day of singing Some places had preaching It was a great day" Dr Banks said The celebrations grew as blacks became concentrated in the Fort Worth-Dallas area in Mexia throughout East Texas and in Houston where Emancipation Park was built under the leadership of a Baptist preacher Jack Yates But something happened when the 1950s arrived Juneteenth celebrations lost something The massive celebrations stopped "It was the beginning of the integramovement Dr Banks said and black folks didn't want anything that might attach them to the ancient stigma of being black "It was the beginning of the integration movement when a whole lot of folks thought that in order to be abreast of the changes in that time you had to cut loose from everything black "It was the big battle raging for equality for first-class citizenship At that time anything that smacked of the old order was frowned upon" There were some blacks who said they didn't need black history Dr Banks said "That was in the beginning and then some discovered we did need HE FORESEES A continuation of Juneteenth celebrations "And I think we're going to have a revival of a number of black institutions that have suffered during these days Like the black church is taking on new enthusiasm among us There were times when church groups didn't sing spirituals And really the whites took over the spirituals and have really done a wonderful job of perpetuating them Now we're returnin to them 0 6267 9 it "you SEE TEXAS was sort of a state on the outer fringe of the Confederacy It occupied a very peculiar position in the Civil War Not much fighting was going on here It was the bread basket and the supply basket for the Confederacy" Dr Banks said Slavery for the most part went undisturbed in Texas during the Civil War Dr Banks said the Emancipation Proclamation which Lincoln had issued to go into effect on Jan 1 1863 didn't affect Texas There was nobody here to enforce Gen Granger and his troops arrived "That's the first celebration When the news got out at Galveston folk went wild down in that neck of the woods" But most of the slaves were in East Texas then and government troops moved inland to spread the word "Now just like up in other states' there were some pockets where some I (slave) masters maintained strict control even after the amendment abolish "I think every people ought to remember ale landmarks of its forward MARCH I don't think any person or any group of people can expect to go for ward if it cuts itself loose from its an-client landmarks" he said Dr Banks says he celebrates Juneteenth to rejoice that God with the help of determined blacks and whites abolished slavery and "set us on the path to identity and full recognition in society "We haven't achieved all of this yet but we are way down the road on it" he says "And there are a whole lot of people who are wtth us in it" Ile doesn't feel Juneteenth should be celebrated exclusively by black people There have been marks made in American history for which all people should rejoice Dr Banks says a a IT WASN'T UNTIL the 1970s that Imeteenth really began making a comeback "You see the idea at one time when we talked of integration was that in order to be integrated group institutions and group heritages had to be pushed aside "Now I think all America gravitates around the idea of a pluralistic society in which you have a common culture but each group has some of its own pecullarities and institutions of development to which it clings" he said.