Juneteenth: Freedom Still in Progress

Juneteenth didn't mark the end of the struggle, it marked a turning point. In this episode, we explore surprising facts about the holiday, powerful North Carolina sites that honor it, and why I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either is your year-round Black History plug!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's happening to know it all? Welcome to another episode
of I Didn't Know, Maybe you didn't either. I'm your host,
b Dot, and let me tell you something. We just
got our first quarter numbers back. I was impressed. Y'all
been listening, man. It is a celebration. Over one point
eight million downloads of I Didn't Know, Maybe you didn't either?

(00:24):
Quarter one, and a lot of y'all found us back
in February for Black History Month. But here's the thing.
We didn't just stop there. Now. We kept going, and
now we're talking about black history and all types of
things that I didn't know maybe you didn't either, all
year long, not just in February. It's still short, digestible,
powerful episodes, and still full of stuff that will make

(00:45):
you say I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. Not
only are we celebrating your great first quarter, but it
is also Juneteenth Week. So to kick off this episode,
I have three of the most useless facts you'll never
need ever a day in light all surrounding June teenth.
Your first random fact. June teenth was once called Jubilee Day. Yeah,

(01:08):
that's what it was originally named when it first began
as being celebrated in Texas, but like we do everything else,
we put a remix to it. Jubilee Day turned into
Emancipation Day, then Freedom Day, and now June teenth. Your
second useless fact. The song Lift Every Voice and Sing
was originally a poem and it wasn't written for black folks.

(01:31):
It was written by James Weldon Johnson for a school
celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. But black folks heard that
first line and said, nah, that's ours. We're gonna keep that.
And your third and final useless fact, there's a town
in Mississippi that never ratified the thirteenth Amendment, well until
twenty thirteen. The thirteenth Amendment was the amendment that gave

(01:54):
freedom to black folks. Always remember that in Civics class. Thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth Amendment. Free citizens vote because free citizens should vote.
Free citizens vote. Thirteenth Amendment was for freedom, Fourteenth Amendment
was for citizenship. Fifteenth Amendment was for voting. But in Mississippi,
they technically didn't get around to submitting the paperwork to

(02:16):
band slavery until one hundred and forty eight years later.
So those are your three useless facts about Juneteenth. It
was originally called Jubilee Day. Lift every voice and sing
was originally a poem. And there's a town in Mississippi
that didn't ratify the thirteenth Amendment until twenty thirteen. So
when it comes to June tenth, yeah, we know the basics.

(02:37):
June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, Galveston, Texas. General Granger rows up.
Lets folks know they've been free for two years already.
But here's the twist. June teenth thinks just about the past,
it's about right now. And did you know that all
over the country they have traditional celebrations because I didn't.
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I

(03:04):
didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I guess
that's my question today. How you celebrating Juneteenth this year?
Here in North Carolina? We got some powerful ways to
reflect on what Juneteenth means. And I'm not just talking
about in theory. I mean on the ground. But let
me give you a few places where history isn't just preserved,
it's lived. You got the historic Stagville in Durham. Over

(03:26):
nine hundred people were enslaved there. The original slave quarters
still stands and on June teenth, visitors here from descendants,
not just historians. It's a chance to stand where they
stood and breathe free air in their honor. In Sedelia,
they got the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. This was once
a school founded by doctor Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a black

(03:47):
woman who said, listen, not only is we gonna be free,
but were gonna be educated too. The legacy in this
is a campus that shows how knowledge became one of
the first forms of freedom. And craswell, They've got Somerset Place.
They documented the lives of over eight hundred enslaved people.
Their June Team celebrations about family reunification, tracing the threads

(04:07):
that were torn apart and weaving them back together. And Raleigh,
North Carolina has Oberlin Village. It's one of the state's
most significant freedom colonies, built by formerly enslaved folks. It's
still standing, it's still sacred. And that's just a sample.
From Rosenwall Schools to heritage trails. Look, North Carolina got
stories all over the map that bring June Team to

(04:29):
life every single year. That's why I got to get
my budget up for the podcast, because I want to
take a film crew to these cities and show the
world the great stuff that goes on to celebrate Black folk.
And it's not just in North Carolina. We celebrate Juneteenth
all across the country. Of course, Galveston throws the og party.
I gotta get down there. In Atlanta, Centennial Park turns

(04:51):
into a concert and a culture fest. In Chicago, Millennium
Park hosts food trucks, panels, and live music. In New Orleans,
they mixed Juneteenth with brand bands Black Love and Second Lines.
In California, from Oakland to LA you'll see yoga in
the park, block parties, activist talks. In DC, the National
Museum of African American History and Culture goes deep with

(05:12):
events and exhibitions. And they tell me on Faybook that
New York really show out. They say June teenth NYC
and Brooklyn is one of the biggest in the Northeast.
It's like a multi day celebration with parades, performances, all
types of events. In recent years, they've even done fireworks
for June teens. My point is, wherever you are, there's
something going on. Freedom just looks different depending on the

(05:34):
zip code, but it's being celebrated everywhere. And just like
Juneteenth has expanded from a Texas celebration to a national moment,
this show has expanded as well. Like we started as
a February project, now we every single week. We talk mascots,
we talked military uniforms, where you've talked about why so
many black folks call every soda a coke. And it

(05:54):
all connects back to freedom, the freedom to know your story,
to own your culture, to be proud to say, hell,
I didn't know, maybe you didn't either, and then go
and tell somebody else about it. So on this June tenth,
wherever you are, whether you're at a cookout, a museum,
a concert, or you just chilling, take a second to celebrate.
We're not all the way free, but we ain't where

(06:17):
we used to be either, and we're not done learning.
And I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.