March 12, 2024 • 38 mins
Bernard Cunningham Jr. is a Ball High and Prairie View A&M University Grad and currently works in architecture. He has had a hand in designing the potential Juneteenth Museum here on Galveston Island, which we discuss in this episode.
Bernard's Article in The Daily News: https://www.galvnews.com/opinion/guest_columns/guest-commentary-juneteenth-museum-project-far-more-than-architecture/article_563a550e-d393-504f-b932-6bce3b4d961f.html
Check Out Bernard's apparel and clothing brand: https://www.instagram.com/bryte_apparel?igsh=MXEwaGJtbm8wbnBvcw==
Galveston Unscripted is your gateway to the heart and soul of Galveston, Texas. Dive into captivating tales of Galveston's history, explore the breathtaking stories, and discover the vibrant cultural gems of Galveston. Subscribe for engaging narratives, exclusive insights, and an immersive journey through the essence of Galveston, Texas. #GalvestonUnscripted #galvestonhistory #texashistory
Subscribe to Galveston Unscripted on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts for more historical insights and stories from this remarkable island: https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/podcasts
Check out the podcast and audio tour that is transforming Galveston into the world's largest free museum! https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/
Support the show! Buy me a book! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jrshaw409
Galveston Unscripted Digital Market: https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/store
Bernard's Article in The Daily News: https://www.galvnews.com/opinion/guest_columns/guest-commentary-juneteenth-museum-project-far-more-than-architecture/article_563a550e-d393-504f-b932-6bce3b4d961f.html
Check Out Bernard's apparel and clothing brand: https://www.instagram.com/bryte_apparel?igsh=MXEwaGJtbm8wbnBvcw==
Galveston Unscripted is your gateway to the heart and soul of Galveston, Texas. Dive into captivating tales of Galveston's history, explore the breathtaking stories, and discover the vibrant cultural gems of Galveston. Subscribe for engaging narratives, exclusive insights, and an immersive journey through the essence of Galveston, Texas. #GalvestonUnscripted #galvestonhistory #texashistory
Subscribe to Galveston Unscripted on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts for more historical insights and stories from this remarkable island: https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/podcasts
Check out the podcast and audio tour that is transforming Galveston into the world's largest free museum! https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/
Support the show! Buy me a book! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jrshaw409
Galveston Unscripted Digital Market: https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/store
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
People think of history as like a non-factor and
things, but if you payattention to history, it
highlights the reasons whythings are the way they are
today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And who knows, you could be making history right
now.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Dude, that's awesome man.
So you did graphic design atPrairie View.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, it was one of the courses you had to take
underneath the architectureprogram.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, you have to do graphic design in architecture.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Because you have to put together all types of
posters, you have to makerenderings of buildings, so it's
a good thing to know you knowgraphic design.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
What got you into architecture?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Ah, that is a tricky story, I would say.
I have as much time as you have,so Okay, so what got me started
in architecture is so,throughout high school I was in
woodshop Right and I was one ofthe lucky students who never
passed I mean never felt acourse or anything like that.
(01:28):
And my woodshop instructor, mrAyola, he was like you know,
bernard, you're pretty muchdoing what you're created for
your senior year.
Would you like to go do acreative at the Galveston
College?
And I was like sure, why not?
So they had two programs at thetechnical school off of
Broadway and it was you caneither go to be an electrician
(01:51):
or you can do the HVAC program.
So I was like I don't reallyknow too much about either war,
but I discussed it with myfamily and they mentioned that
you know, if you're doing HVAC,you're also electrician, because
you're not a player around withelectricity.
So I was like, all right, I'llgo ahead and do that.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Two for one special yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, and you know, as I'm finishing the class, you
know I didn't aspire to be anHVAC technician.
I was always an artist at heart.
So I kind of wanted to take ita step further.
But I wasn't really sure as towhat I wanted to do and fast
forward.
I graduate and I was trying topursue cross country, like walk
(02:29):
on for university and PrairieView caught my eyes.
So you know, I'm going toorientation and of course I look
into the construction sizeprogram to see what they have.
And then they bring uparchitecture.
And you know, you look at thedegree plans when you're in
school and they look fairlysimilar if you're going, based
off the picture that they haveon the cover page.
(02:49):
So I was like you know what'sthe difference?
And I sided with architecturejust because the artistic aspect
of it.
So that's it, man.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And you send me some of your renderings.
Yeah, like of the.
The new ball high Right Wasthat your rendering.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
That was actually a render and produced by PBK.
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And then did you work on Kermit Kermit Stadium.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I've actually went out there several times this
past summer.
I'm thankful for zero sixconsultant for that, for the
opportunity.
But yeah, I went out there, rana few benchmarks where you can
kind of survey the land in asense.
I've created several site plansfor the stadium as well and I
also got to look at some of theoriginal plans for the
(03:37):
Curveville Stadium oh, really,from when it originated.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
When did they build that originally?
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm not too sure.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
60s maybe it was pretty old.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I would say 60s, because it was hand drawn, it
wasn't digital or anything likethat, so it's safe to assume the
60s.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Been drawn up in Blender or anything right or
whatever software.
So could you tell us a littlebit about yourself, like your
name, tell us everything aboutyourself, where you got started,
where you're from.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Born and raised here in Galveston.
All in, I guess you could sayI've been to several of the
schools down here.
I mean all of them, for themost part.
Initially, I started off at LAMorgan Elementary School Fast
forward.
I went to Wise Middle School atthe time when Hurricane I just
(04:27):
passed by and it was Wise MiddleSchool and Central Middle
School integrated with eachother.
After that I went on to theseventh, eighth grade at Central
Middle School, at the actualMiddle School, and I went to
Barhaw School as well.
So I'm a former alumni ofBarhaw, former alumni of
Galveston College as well andformer alumni of Prairie View
(04:52):
University as well.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That's awesome, man, that's awesome, did you?
So you played sports.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I definitely played sports.
I mainly did basketball for themost part.
And then I broke my ankle myjunior year, yeah, and I just
kind of steered away frombasketball because I was going
through rehabilitation with myankle.
But I was still fast.
(05:16):
I just couldn't make all thecuts in basketball and I had a
coach reach out to me like youknow, just go ahead and join the
cross country team.
And then that led to track andfield and yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Did you?
Were you sprinter or lawdistance?
Well, cross country lawdistance.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Did you sprint in track and field too, or long?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
track and field.
It just pretty much depend onthe meat.
But for the most part Iparticipated in the 400 meter
race.
The 800 meter race, as well asthe 800 meter relay race, was
for this run, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
It would ball high.
So I went to Texas City HighSchool and our track team was
pretty good, but I think ballhigh when I was in high school
so I graduated 2010.
But I'm pretty sure ball highbeat Texas City every year and
in whatever.
I'm sure there are multipleevents, but but did ball high?
Just clean up.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So the reason behind that is wehave an advantage when we're
doing like practices.
They will make us actually runto the beach, run actually on
the same and run back, so thatmight be a huge factor.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Oh, dude, yeah, Running in the sand is no joke.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Like building your quads and everything Like when
you don't even realize that youhave to lift your feet up even
just another inch out of thatsand.
Dude, that's wild, that's, andso did you run it per view as
well.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
At the time I was trying to what they say walk on,
so basically not having ascholarship to actually run for
the school.
And then I want to say, maybe ayear and a half afterwards,
covid came in to play and it waskind of a weird area in that
timeline because they weren'tsure about, you know, having a
(06:56):
season or if they won't have anyseason, because I believe, like
the rest of the world, didn'teven know what was going on at
the time.
So I kind of I don't want tosay it was discouraged, but it
was like I was already, you know, motivating myself, practicing
by myself, trying to maintainthe shape that I was in, and you
know, I ended up going backhome because nobody was on
campus.
(07:16):
So it was really, really tough.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So it was during COVID.
Yeah, oh man.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, so it was really tough for everybody.
But then I ventured off intothat clothing brand that we just
spoke about.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.
So you've dabbled in quite abit of things already.
You're 24 years old, right?
You're a young person fromGalveston, you have your own
business basically your ownbrand and you're working for a
big architecture firm here onthe island.
I saw that you wrote in theDaily News.
You wrote a little articlethere about the Juneteenth
(07:44):
Museum and kind of theimportance behind bringing that
to Galveston.
Could you tell us like a littlebit about the Juneteenth Museum
, kind of where it stands nowand why it's important?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Okay, so I guess I can piggyback off the meeting
that the GIZ board had lastnight.
It was a public meeting that Igot invited to.
It was myself, sam Collins,jarvan Hawkins, who's one of my
classmates at Preview andImmuniversity, and right now
we're pretty much trying tonarrow down the full scope of
(08:21):
the building itself.
They brought up several thingsor several issues that they've
seen with the actual JuneteenthMuseum that we presented to them
as far as regarding to theparking that's adjacent to
Curroville Stadium, and then wealso brought up another goal
that they're trying to pursue ofrenovating old Central High
(08:42):
School as well, versus bringingup something new versus keeping
something old and new at thesame time, if that makes sense,
and for the most part, thereason behind it is because, you
know, galveston is like thebirthplace of Juneteenth.
I believe it was in 1865 thatyou know Juneteenth came about
(09:03):
down here in the state of Texas,and it was just recently made a
holiday in 2021.
So, with that being said, withit being in Texas as well as
Galveston, it would be onlyright to invest in something as
historical as Juneteenth.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's probably one of the oldest holidays we celebrate
here in Galveston, so yeah, Iwould have to agree with you
especially talking about whetherit's a new building or put in
an old central high school,which is historic in its own
right that being able topreserve history physically is
(09:42):
extremely important, right.
Because, now we're only a blockaway from where Juneteenth
actually occurred, where thoseorders were actually initiated
here, in Galveston, but thatbuilding is no longer there.
It's literally a parking lot now, and it's kind of hard to talk
about the history of somethingwhen you're standing in the
(10:03):
middle of a parking lot.
Even though it's a beautifulmural there now, it's kind of
hard to make it tangible right.
And I know, of course, theNeocultural Center is right next
door, which is absolutelyfabulous.
But I agree, I think thereneeds to be some type of
physical representation museumor something where somebody can
go in and actually discover whyit's important to everyone here,
(10:26):
in Texas and the United States.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So, yeah, that's super interesting though about
the Old Central High School.
What are they using thatbuilding for now, Do you?
Speaker 1 (10:38):
know From a personal perspective I've been there for
several different occasionswhether it's a Black History
program, whether it's a Kwanzaaprogram.
Some of the locals host pop-upshops there with several vendors
.
Some people do funeral repasses.
(10:59):
You know, it's so much morethan Old Central High School to
the community.
It's really a gathering spacefor the community, a new museum
that would be placed.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I guess the projected location for that is on 27th
Street, between Avenue M andAvenue M and 1.5, or in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
M and 1.5.
M and 1.5,.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
OK.
So yeah, on that little lot,and there's nothing in that lot
right now, right Right.
Ok, is that land?
Is it already kind of purchased?
Is it ready to use?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So that is the last standing vacant lot that GISD
owns.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh, ok, yeah, OK.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So it's the last lot, and for many years before I was
born, that lot has been usedspecifically for parking for the
visitors of Curveville Stadium.
So, that's kind of the majordeal breaker right now for the
museum.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, I wonder, there's got to be some way.
Well, even if that's not thelocation, I think that my point
is, I think there needs to besome type of physical place that
people can go and learn aboutJuneteenth, or at least there to
be a place where people cantalk about it or go to learn
(12:14):
about it.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
For as long as I can remember, growing up here in
Galveston, for the most partit's a tourist location, but
then again you do have yourlocals both you and myself, our
locals here and you have theseevents that come throughout the
year that we all celebrate or weall know, such as one of them
(12:40):
coming up in particular MartyGros.
You also have the Biker Rally.
You also have Dickens on theStrand.
You also have another event, Ibelieve is called the Art Walk,
that they host you on the Strand, and I really do appreciate
those events down here.
I've attended the majority ofmy lifetime, unless I was at
(13:02):
Prairie Vienne Universitystudying.
But growing up here inGalveston, those events were
really I'm going to say thisthose events were really fun to
attend.
But I would love to seesomething like that happen for
Juneteenth in a sense, becauseJuneteenth comes around every
(13:23):
summer, of course, june 19th,and we have a parade.
You have a number of littleboys or little girls out there,
whether it's a cheerleading team, a dancing team or a football
team just coming around tocelebrate Juneteenth, and then
we always end up at Rockuny Parkunderneath the Pavilion after
(13:44):
parade.
So we're outside.
We're outside the majority ofthe time well, the entire time,
and I don't see any of uscomplaining about it.
But I think it would be reallynice if we could enjoy that
inside somewhere.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, no, I agree.
I mean it's a place where thereare festivals and events
constantly.
It's every time you walkdowntown on a weekend there's
something going on.
But to be able to have like aJuneteenth Festival or something
like that, every year, maybethe entire month of June or
something like that.
You have something going on asa draw, you know, because just
(14:22):
looking at it from both sides,it is historically significant
and basically making blackpeople free in.
Texas and most of the UnitedStates.
But it could be an economicdriver here in Galveston and
this part of Texas to bringpeople down here every year.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You definitely write about that because, as I
mentioned, I'm a local myselfand I've worked at several
different jobs down here in myearlier ages and you know the
tourists that come down here,like safe instance, I used to
work at the spot for maybe two,three years in the summertime
and you know you have theseAfrican American couples or
families asking you know, whereare the other African Americans?
(15:01):
Like, where do these AfricanAmericans go to down here to,
like you know, just hang out,have fun and things of those
nature.
And I honestly can't say wehave a space delegated to not
just specifically us but a spacethat we're just like familiar
with and you know everybody iscoming together in a sense Are
you saying it's kind of like, ifyou come down here it's like
(15:24):
white friendly or friendly to alot of other people, but maybe
not so much.
African.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Americans.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Not necessarily, because anywhere I go in
Galveston for the most part Ifeel welcome.
You know what I mean.
But like, say, if I was to cometo the Strand, let's say a
Friday or Saturday night, youknow, nine times out of ten I
might end up at Yagas orTsunamis, that's what I'm
talking about, or I end up atBarefoot.
And it's really a nice thingbecause, you know, as I come
(15:53):
down here or as I travel downhere from school, on the
occasion I get to see some of myclassmates.
You know what I mean.
But for the most part, when I'mat these places, I'm not seeing
, you know, people that I'vegrew up with not just my
classmates, but people I'vegrown up with and nine times out
of ten they're probably justsomewhere and it won't be here,
(16:15):
it might be in the Houston area.
You know, what I mean.
So, yeah, that's what you mean.
That's what you mean.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, because Galveston is an interesting
place in that it is.
It is it's been a very diverseplace for a long time.
I mean as a port city, as youknow, as a tourism city, you've
had a lot of people kind ofmixing and mingling here for
literally a century or more,Right, and even the schools here
are super diverse.
That's why I enjoyed going toschool in like Texas City and a
(16:43):
lot of my friends went to BallHigh.
It was super diverse and nomatter where you would go, you
would kind of you're kind ofjust with everybody from all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Look, they look different than you.
They're black, they're white,they're Hispanic, whatever.
That's what I do love aboutGalveston, but I understand
exactly what you're saying,right Well, so growing up in
Galveston as a kid, did youunderstand the historical
significance of like Juneteenthor Galveston in general?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I would like to say yes, and it wasn't something
that was taught to me actuallyin school.
It was actually the selectivegroup of teachers who know.
You know you have thoseteachers who love their job and
then you have those teachers whoare there just to do their job.
I was blessed enough to bearound some teachers who love to
do their job and go above andbeyond and get you to
(17:31):
participate in the Black HistoryMonth program, get you to
participate in the Juneteenthprogram, get you to participate
in these talent shows dedicatedto black history and things of
those natures.
So I'm very thankful for that.
I would say.
As far as, like the culture ofsignificance of Galveston itself
(17:51):
, that's kind of something thatyou learn as you keep going.
As you're walking down thestreets of downtown or anywhere
in Galveston, you realize youknow there's a lot of history
down here and there's somethings you actually have to
learn through textbooks or atextbook that wasn't provided
through the school programitself.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So what are some of those things you're talking
about that you may or may notlearn in a textbook or at school
?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Some of those things that I may or may not learn in
those textbooks in the schooldefinitely refers to, you know
point of time in history whereyou know there were slaves being
auctioned off here on thestrand.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Oh yeah, right there.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Right there.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
How the buildings along the strand were built by
African Americans and some ofthose African Americans even put
their thumbprints within thebuildings themselves, if you
still have the old existingbuildings here today.
Another thing to mention isthat, you know, I mean Galveston
was like a hub for, like thewealthy, like back then they had
(19:02):
like gambling shacks and thingsof that nature and it was a
beautiful thing.
It's just that we were left outof the picture, if that makes
sense.
So I feel like, in a sense,when that happened, it kind of
just carried over throughout theyears to where the wealthy
establishments on this side ofBroadway and the African
(19:23):
Americans are the blackcommunity.
They don't really have thesemom and pop stores or the brick
and mortar stores that we havetoday in the city, and I think,
culturally speaking, it's not acoincidence.
You know what I mean, and I'mnot saying it's black here and
(19:44):
it's white here, is more so.
We were never taught how to runa business.
We, for the most part,conducted the business for the
business owners.
So I would, you know, I wouldsay, take it with a grain of
salt.
But the black community, I feellike we really need somebody to
step in and say, hey, this ishow we can come together and
(20:05):
establish ourselves within acity that we're no one behold to
, and hold true to that versusus, you know, going around and
just complaining about what wedon't have here.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, because you know I was speaking to a few
people on the podcast I've hadand just general conversation.
You know these usually ladiesI'm talking to, they're in there
like maybe 60s, maybe late 60sand they talk about growing up
in Galveston and they talk abouthow their first, they were some
of the first integrated classesin growing up, like growing up
(20:40):
in elementary, even up to ballhigh school, and you look at
that and talk for younger peopletoday that is so hard to
imagine.
Is segregation Right?
And you talk to people who arejust in their 60s who they were
the first integrated class.
Right, that's not that long ago, right At all.
You're right about that.
(21:01):
And it just it blows my mindbecause growing up, you know, in
a very diverse school, verydiverse neighborhood, very
diverse area, it never evencrossed my mind that that was
even it felt so far away, youknow, but it's really not.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And you know, to come back to economics and owning
businesses and things like that,it takes a long time to get
over that, as you.
I mean, I'm preaching the choirhere I mean you understand, but
it takes a very long time toget over that.
What was going to prayer?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
view A&M like that is a that is a really great
question.
So at prayer view it was onebig melting pot in a sense.
You hear about HBCUshistorically black college
universities and you reallydon't get the gist of it until
(21:50):
you actually attend to one.
So, like how you said, in thegals and people been mixing and
mingling since forever.
You can go to Prairie View andsee somebody that looks just
like me or just like you and youdon't wanna assume I could tell
you that right now that they'rewhite or African-American or
they're from America.
They can be from DominicanRepublic, they can be from Egypt
(22:11):
, they can be from Asia, and youwould never know until you sit
there and have a conversationwith them.
And I think what Prairie Viewdoes is they're pretty much
diverse when it comes to thingslike that, where they have you
get into know each other notjust from a classroom but
outside of the classroom, ifthat makes sense.
But Prairie View was definitelya great experience, especially
(22:33):
with me being in thearchitecture program.
I got to learn a lot abouthistory associated with
architecture.
I also took a history class inthere that was pretty
significant in my life, where Igot a different side of the coin
of the story about the slavetrade and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
What was that about?
Can you expand on that a littlebit?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That time period was much more horrific than what we
were told in lower education orelementary or middle school.
For the most part, the educationthat we're taught as a young
kid, it's pretty much the samething throughout the years and
(23:19):
it's pretty much a story thatthey want you to know.
From my opinion, versus a storythat you need to know, and the
way African-American people weretreated is far worse than what
we think.
And a particular story that myprofessor mentioned to me was
how, in the past, you would geta ship and there would be tons
(23:42):
of African-Americans well, atthe time, africans on these
ships and they would try to pilethem up as much as they could
to get on these ships and ofcourse, they were malnourished.
They weren't really fed.
Of course you had feces andthings of that nature.
You had pregnant women on theseboats.
You had some people who decidedto jump off these boats because
(24:06):
they felt like their life inbondage was just not for them.
You also have some of the shipcaptains trying to deal with the
feces on the ships and one ofthe particular methods was
actually stuffing their anuswith, let's say, the things you
(24:26):
get out of the wine bottle.
Because you could have a corkstuffing corks of the anuses to
keep the feces from comingaround the ship, because you
have plagues and diseases andthings of that nature that might
spread about the ship.
And what's a ship with no goodslaves once you get over to
America?
So that was one of the thingsthat really kind of opened my
(24:47):
eyes up in a sense and got abetter aspect of what that time
period was like.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, I'm glad you expanded on that, because I
encourage all people.
I couldn't recommend a specificbook or anything like that, but
I recommend everyone to.
If you hear something abouthistory, it sounds kind of
unbelievable, or it seems likeit's even sugar coated in a way.
Dive deeper into those subjects,whether it is the slave trade,
whether it is anything war,literally anything dive deeper
(25:19):
on those things and try tounderstand how horrific those
things were and what led up tosome of the events that we know
here of in America and Texas andGalveston Right Wow, that is
insane, and to kind of know thatwe Galveston ties into that
story.
(25:40):
It really is fascinating.
Yeah, I know there are a lot ofpeople who are like, okay,
we've talked about the slavetrade, we've talked about
slavery, things like that, let'smove on.
You hear people say, just moveon, look where we are now.
What do you say to people whoare like let's just move on,
like, come on, forget about it,bernard, that's over, it's 2024.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
See, the thing with that is, I'm not one to hold
grudges against anybody and I'malso a firm believer in
everybody is entitled to theirown opinion.
But for those same people thathave that opinion, who say let's
just get over it, I would sayreevaluate the circumstances.
Let's compare this time periodof time and the current time
(26:28):
period that we live in now, andthe only thing that I could say
that has changed is that we'remore capable of doing things on
our own as far as like readingand writing and things of that
nature.
We're more capable of buying ahouse or maybe getting our own
space and not still living inthe times that we were living in
(26:52):
, where it didn't matter whereyou live as long as you were out
here working and things of thatnature.
And not only to say that, butalso compare your lifestyle to
maybe somebody in not only anAfrican-American community but
somebody who was in a minoritycommunity, and just really think
, dive into the history behindyour family and then dive into
(27:16):
the history of my family and youtell me, was there any fair
play involved?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Very well said.
Why don't you start a podcast?
My man Too busy.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, that's a story of my life.
Too busy, maybe after themaster's program, which I'll be
done with, oh so you're doing amaster's program, okay, so in
architecture?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Oh awesome, dude, is that?
Where's that Prairie View?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
as well, at Prairie View as well, oh really.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Are you actually attending, or is it mostly
online, or how are you workingthat?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
out.
It's kind of a hybrid thing towhere I have to be maybe on the
campus once or twice out theweek, but for the most part,
what's keeping me from just likebeing in Galaxy right now is
I've already signed a lease.
Oh yeah, so I can't get out ofthat, but yeah, so for the most
part it's a online setting.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And particularly in my situation is I go to the
Northwest campus versus the maincampus, and that campus is
mainly dedicated to thosestudents who are in the graduate
program.
But they also have jobs or acareer already, and most of
those jobs or careers are inHouston area.
So you don't wanna have tocommute from Prairie View all
(28:26):
the way to Houston day by dayjust so you can go to class and
to work.
So whereas you're at theNorthwest campus, you're maybe
30, 35 minutes away from work,versus being an hour or so away
from work from Prairie View.
So yeah, Gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So how did you meet Sam Sam Collins?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I met Sam, I believe, the summer of 2021 or 2022.
And at the time I believe I wasin my third year at Prairie,
third or fourth year at PrairieView, and we were proposed to do
a design charrette against well, not against, but paired with
Texas A&M University as well.
(29:08):
And they gave us the proposalof a Juneteenth Museum in
Galveston and I'm gonna behonest, at that time I thought
it was just like another project.
We just so happened to be inGalveston and we're doing a
historic project.
But as time proceeded, I'vegrown a relationship with Mr Sam
(29:31):
Collins and he shared somelights on a number of things.
That gives me a betterunderstanding as to what we're
trying to do with the JuneteenthMuseum in itself.
And then I wanna say I alsoread one of his guest columns to
maybe a month or two aftermeeting him and figuring out who
(29:55):
he actually was down here inGalveston, texas.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
He's doing some amazing work.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And he kinda operates in silence too, which is really
really cool.
And then you meet him and talkto him and you kinda see what
he's working on and you're likeoh my gosh, dude, You're doing
some amazing, amazing work anddoing some really cool stuff.
But yeah, he's a wonderful,wonderful man.
Do you think that people yourage do you think that they
understand that history isimportant?
(30:23):
Or do you think people are justkind of living their lives and
kind of floating through andjust I don't know, just kind of
moving forward?
Do you think people care abouthistory?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Well, I can't speak for everybody, but I would say I
could.
I guess I could speak for theAfrican American community.
I would say, you know, we're socaught up in the lives that we
do have that, weren't, I guessyou can say, well thought out
before we were on this earth,based on the circumstances that
(30:56):
came before us.
And we're still playing thisconstant game where we have to
catch up and once we catch upwe're 10 steps backwards, and
when we catch up again we'restill 10 steps backwards.
But in regards to the historic,you know, things we do have here
(31:18):
going on in Galveston againJuneteenth.
I believe that is onesignificant occasion where we
actually celebrate as acommunity and do things the
right way, put our pride aside,put our differences aside and
actually come together.
And for the most part, it's notfor the generation who knows
(31:41):
about Juneteenth.
It's more so about usleveraging that and instilling
that into the generation thatcomes after us.
Because if you ever been to theparade and you see these little
girls out here dancing, youcan't tell me that they just
don't appreciate this holiday.
You know what I mean, yeah, andyou know people think of
history as like a non-factor andthings.
(32:04):
But if you pay attention tohistory, it highlights the
reasons why things are the waythey are today, if that makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
That's perfect.
That's why we're sitting inthese chairs right now the way
history played out, you know andwho knows, you could be making
history right now.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I hope so, I hope so.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Is there anything else that I haven't asked you,
that you may have thought of,that you wanted to say?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
If we could piggyback on the board meeting that we
had last night in regards to oneof the major issues was the
parking issues, and then I'mopen to anything else you have
to ask me, because I feel youasked that one question and I
got deep into it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
No, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I don't know what I was able to say.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
You can say whatever you want.
There are no limits.
You can say whatever you want.
Just to compliment you you are.
I can see why Sam sent you overhere and connected us.
You've got a lot going on andyou're going to do some amazing
things.
You're very well spoken, youknow exactly what you want and
(33:10):
you know talking about futuregenerations and then what you
can do to improve in futuregenerations.
That is what we should bethinking about.
That's what humanity should bethinking about.
What can we improve for futuregenerations Not just our kids,
but our kids' friends and ourpeople a hundred years from now.
People, not just ourdescendants.
(33:30):
You know what I mean.
The design of the JuneteenthMuseum.
So, are you working on thedesign for that?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
So actually, when we initially got the proposal to do
the Juneteenth Museum, bothPrevianum and Texanum University
this is like in the earlierstages, so this is probably 21,.
Some of 2021 or some of 2022.
But however, that projectelongated through several
semesters since then and some ofthe kids who are in that actual
(34:01):
class that have that actualproject under the professive Mr
Batson, they often come to meand ask me about Juneteenth so
they can get a real culturalaspect, because I'm from
Galveston, born and raised.
So if anybody knows aboutJuneteenth, it should be me.
You know what I mean,especially if they want to know
about the surrounding area asfar as the churches and things
(34:24):
of that nature.
And just so happened, jarvis,we were both in our
undergraduate program, the finalsemester, and we ended up
taking two different courses.
Whereas the course he was in heactually got to do the
Juneteenth Museum, the course Iwas in I was doing maybe a
Taekwondo facility or somethinglike that.
Oh no way or that nature.
(34:45):
But again, jarvis is abrilliant, brilliant young man.
He's also obtained hisbachelor's in engineering and
he's also pursuing his master'sin architecture, so that makes
him far more along the trackthan I am right now.
But then again, it's not abouthim or me.
(35:07):
It's about us coming togetherin a sense, so for me to be
there and share my perspectiveand give my input on the design
of the project and the impactthat I feel like it would give
the community.
That was the real reason that Iwas there.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Okay, so if people want to support I know there was
a public meeting yesterday, butif people want to support from
the time this podcast comes out,what can the general Galveston
population do to support theJuneteenth Museum?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
One of the main takeaways I got last night about
the problem you just stated wasthat there hasn't been any
survey asking the locals ofGalveston how they feel about
Juneteenth, or how do they feelabout actually creating a
(35:55):
Juneteenth Museum, or shouldthey renovate Old Central High
School?
How do they feel about usingthat vacant lot for the building
Because of that nature?
So I believe that would be thenext step moving forward from a
community aspect is to reallyget in some feedback, because
one of the things they broughtup in the board meeting was you
(36:16):
know it was an old citycouncilman I can't remember his
name, forgive me, but hementioned, you know, the
community is the reason you guysare sitting in the seats that
you guys are sitting in, so tosay that nobody has made the
effort to ask the community howdo they feel about, you know,
(36:39):
the Juneteenth Museum isbaffling in a sense.
So I feel, like you know,getting that survey would be a
vital role and maybe gettingsome real numbers or a real
aspect as to where we're goingwith the direction of the
Juneteenth Museum.
Another thing I would say wouldbe they brought up the topic of
(37:05):
parking right and as I'msitting there, I'm observing the
room and I'm the youngestperson in the building and I'm
assuming the people that werethere they've been there for
quite some time because, again,they're older than me and the
main thing that they werediscussing was, you know,
parking.
(37:25):
You know.
And again, they just renovatedthe Curbill Stadium and somebody
mentioned that you know theyhave several parking spaces on
the north wing of the building,I mean on the north wing of the
stadium.
How they have, you know, atleast 10 to 15 new handicapped
spots in front of the stadiumand things of that nature.
(37:47):
And there's more about you know.
Okay, if you know you have thisamount of parking spots.
I believe they said the vacantlot holds up to 125 cars, maybe
150 maximum, and you know youhave a good deal of parking
spots around the stadium.
Why not just subtract thatnumber and get a real number as
(38:08):
to how many parking spots weneed, delegate the time to
figure out you know the layoutof that parking and then go from
there.
And parking has never been anissue in Gauss.
Well, it's always been an issuein Gauss.
And so if you want to buy arally or if there's a parade or
anything of that nature,nobody's bringing up these,
(38:28):
these topics at that time?
Because if they did, why is itstill going around?
Why are we still celebratingMardi Gras?
Why are we still doing dickenson the strand?
Why are we still doing bikerrally?
Biker rally is a is a very,very populated time of the year
for Galveston, and not only that, there are fatalities
associated with biker rally.
Or was that Jeep weekend?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
things of that nature .
Speaker 1 (38:51):
But one of the things that I would say that could
help as far as the parking issue, why not get a shuttle system
involved?
I feel like that's that'spractical, to get a shuttle
system involved.
If you have these delegatedparking spots for the handicap
that you do need and will need,why not introduce shuttle
service?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Yeah, yeah, just for the sake of asking are there any
other locations that have beenthought about?
I know that that spot there on27th and between M and M and a
half is owned by GISD Right.
Are there any other locationsthat have been thought?
Speaker 1 (39:26):
about, not that I can think off the top of my head,
but I know they were discussingdoing something with some of the
suites in the neoculturalcenter down here on the strand,
but then again, that isn't anentirety of a building dedicated
(39:46):
to Juneteenth.
You have several otherbusinesses or suites that are
associated with it, and I thinkwhat we're trying to do is, or
what we would appreciate is,having something of our own, but
not our own.
It'll be something for thecommunity in itself.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah, yeah, well, okay, so all right.
So that's kind of where itstands right now.
We're still still fighting forit.
Yeah, to create a physicalspace where you can go and learn
and appreciate Juneteenth RightTalk about historic
preservation, right and the1970s Galveston Historical
(40:21):
Foundation they really beganpushing to preserve a lot of
these buildings down here.
Obviously, not every one of themwas saved, because a lot of
them were being torn down, a lotof them burnt down because they
were underutilized, there wasnobody in them, they hadn't been
taken care of for decades Right, but they're super important.
But I do see a lot of frictionwhen it comes to creating
(40:43):
something new, even though itdirectly relates to something
historical and preservinghistory.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So that's just very, very interesting Something to
think about for those listeningright.
Right, is there anything elseyou wanted to?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
say, when the survey is released, make sure you
participate it.
I'm not sure on the exact dateit will be releasing, but please
, please, please, get involved.
Get your mom involved, get yoursister involved, get your
grandfather involved, get yourniece involved, get your past
involved.
It is very, very, veryimportant that we get the
(41:21):
community involved.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah just to hear from the community.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Just to everyone what do you think about this Right?
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Well, cool.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Well, I'll know.
I'll share it whenever it comesout.
You know Well, bernard.
Thank you so much, man.
This has been great.
You were by far the youngestperson I've ever had on the
podcast.
I really appreciate you comingin and lending your perspective
and your work.
You're doing really good things, man.
You're doing really good thingsand, to be from Galveston man,
(41:47):
I'm proud that you're fromGalveston.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
You're doing some awesome stuff.
Thank you, yeah, well, thanks,man.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Absolutely Well, we're gonna have you back on one
of these days.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Okay, I look forward to it, yes, sir.
People think of history as like a non-factor and
things, but if you payattention to history, it
highlights the reasons whythings are the way they are
today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And who knows, you could be making history right
now.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Dude, that's awesome man.
So you did graphic design atPrairie View.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, it was one of the courses you had to take
underneath the architectureprogram.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, you have to do graphic design in architecture.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Because you have to put together all types of
posters, you have to makerenderings of buildings, so it's
a good thing to know you knowgraphic design.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
What got you into architecture?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Ah, that is a tricky story, I would say.
I have as much time as you have,so Okay, so what got me started
in architecture is so,throughout high school I was in
woodshop Right and I was one ofthe lucky students who never
passed I mean never felt acourse or anything like that.
(01:28):
And my woodshop instructor, mrAyola, he was like you know,
bernard, you're pretty muchdoing what you're created for
your senior year.
Would you like to go do acreative at the Galveston
College?
And I was like sure, why not?
So they had two programs at thetechnical school off of
Broadway and it was you caneither go to be an electrician
(01:51):
or you can do the HVAC program.
So I was like I don't reallyknow too much about either war,
but I discussed it with myfamily and they mentioned that
you know, if you're doing HVAC,you're also electrician, because
you're not a player around withelectricity.
So I was like, all right, I'llgo ahead and do that.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Two for one special yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, and you know, as I'm finishing the class, you
know I didn't aspire to be anHVAC technician.
I was always an artist at heart.
So I kind of wanted to take ita step further.
But I wasn't really sure as towhat I wanted to do and fast
forward.
I graduate and I was trying topursue cross country, like walk
(02:29):
on for university and PrairieView caught my eyes.
So you know, I'm going toorientation and of course I look
into the construction sizeprogram to see what they have.
And then they bring uparchitecture.
And you know, you look at thedegree plans when you're in
school and they look fairlysimilar if you're going, based
off the picture that they haveon the cover page.
(02:49):
So I was like you know what'sthe difference?
And I sided with architecturejust because the artistic aspect
of it.
So that's it, man.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And you send me some of your renderings.
Yeah, like of the.
The new ball high Right Wasthat your rendering.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
That was actually a render and produced by PBK.
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And then did you work on Kermit Kermit Stadium.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I've actually went out there several times this
past summer.
I'm thankful for zero sixconsultant for that, for the
opportunity.
But yeah, I went out there, rana few benchmarks where you can
kind of survey the land in asense.
I've created several site plansfor the stadium as well and I
also got to look at some of theoriginal plans for the
(03:37):
Curveville Stadium oh, really,from when it originated.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
When did they build that originally?
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm not too sure.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
60s maybe it was pretty old.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I would say 60s, because it was hand drawn, it
wasn't digital or anything likethat, so it's safe to assume the
60s.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Been drawn up in Blender or anything right or
whatever software.
So could you tell us a littlebit about yourself, like your
name, tell us everything aboutyourself, where you got started,
where you're from.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Born and raised here in Galveston.
All in, I guess you could sayI've been to several of the
schools down here.
I mean all of them, for themost part.
Initially, I started off at LAMorgan Elementary School Fast
forward.
I went to Wise Middle School atthe time when Hurricane I just
(04:27):
passed by and it was Wise MiddleSchool and Central Middle
School integrated with eachother.
After that I went on to theseventh, eighth grade at Central
Middle School, at the actualMiddle School, and I went to
Barhaw School as well.
So I'm a former alumni ofBarhaw, former alumni of
Galveston College as well andformer alumni of Prairie View
(04:52):
University as well.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That's awesome, man, that's awesome, did you?
So you played sports.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I definitely played sports.
I mainly did basketball for themost part.
And then I broke my ankle myjunior year, yeah, and I just
kind of steered away frombasketball because I was going
through rehabilitation with myankle.
But I was still fast.
(05:16):
I just couldn't make all thecuts in basketball and I had a
coach reach out to me like youknow, just go ahead and join the
cross country team.
And then that led to track andfield and yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Did you?
Were you sprinter or lawdistance?
Well, cross country lawdistance.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Did you sprint in track and field too, or long?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
track and field.
It just pretty much depend onthe meat.
But for the most part Iparticipated in the 400 meter
race.
The 800 meter race, as well asthe 800 meter relay race, was
for this run, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
It would ball high.
So I went to Texas City HighSchool and our track team was
pretty good, but I think ballhigh when I was in high school
so I graduated 2010.
But I'm pretty sure ball highbeat Texas City every year and
in whatever.
I'm sure there are multipleevents, but but did ball high?
Just clean up.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So the reason behind that is wehave an advantage when we're
doing like practices.
They will make us actually runto the beach, run actually on
the same and run back, so thatmight be a huge factor.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Oh, dude, yeah, Running in the sand is no joke.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Like building your quads and everything Like when
you don't even realize that youhave to lift your feet up even
just another inch out of thatsand.
Dude, that's wild, that's, andso did you run it per view as
well.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
At the time I was trying to what they say walk on,
so basically not having ascholarship to actually run for
the school.
And then I want to say, maybe ayear and a half afterwards,
covid came in to play and it waskind of a weird area in that
timeline because they weren'tsure about, you know, having a
(06:56):
season or if they won't have anyseason, because I believe, like
the rest of the world, didn'teven know what was going on at
the time.
So I kind of I don't want tosay it was discouraged, but it
was like I was already, you know, motivating myself, practicing
by myself, trying to maintainthe shape that I was in, and you
know, I ended up going backhome because nobody was on
campus.
(07:16):
So it was really, really tough.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So it was during COVID.
Yeah, oh man.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, so it was really tough for everybody.
But then I ventured off intothat clothing brand that we just
spoke about.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.
So you've dabbled in quite abit of things already.
You're 24 years old, right?
You're a young person fromGalveston, you have your own
business basically your ownbrand and you're working for a
big architecture firm here onthe island.
I saw that you wrote in theDaily News.
You wrote a little articlethere about the Juneteenth
(07:44):
Museum and kind of theimportance behind bringing that
to Galveston.
Could you tell us like a littlebit about the Juneteenth Museum
, kind of where it stands nowand why it's important?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Okay, so I guess I can piggyback off the meeting
that the GIZ board had lastnight.
It was a public meeting that Igot invited to.
It was myself, sam Collins,jarvan Hawkins, who's one of my
classmates at Preview andImmuniversity, and right now
we're pretty much trying tonarrow down the full scope of
(08:21):
the building itself.
They brought up several thingsor several issues that they've
seen with the actual JuneteenthMuseum that we presented to them
as far as regarding to theparking that's adjacent to
Curroville Stadium, and then wealso brought up another goal
that they're trying to pursue ofrenovating old Central High
(08:42):
School as well, versus bringingup something new versus keeping
something old and new at thesame time, if that makes sense,
and for the most part, thereason behind it is because, you
know, galveston is like thebirthplace of Juneteenth.
I believe it was in 1865 thatyou know Juneteenth came about
(09:03):
down here in the state of Texas,and it was just recently made a
holiday in 2021.
So, with that being said, withit being in Texas as well as
Galveston, it would be onlyright to invest in something as
historical as Juneteenth.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's probably one of the oldest holidays we celebrate
here in Galveston, so yeah, Iwould have to agree with you
especially talking about whetherit's a new building or put in
an old central high school,which is historic in its own
right that being able topreserve history physically is
(09:42):
extremely important, right.
Because, now we're only a blockaway from where Juneteenth
actually occurred, where thoseorders were actually initiated
here, in Galveston, but thatbuilding is no longer there.
It's literally a parking lot now, and it's kind of hard to talk
about the history of somethingwhen you're standing in the
(10:03):
middle of a parking lot.
Even though it's a beautifulmural there now, it's kind of
hard to make it tangible right.
And I know, of course, theNeocultural Center is right next
door, which is absolutelyfabulous.
But I agree, I think thereneeds to be some type of
physical representation museumor something where somebody can
go in and actually discover whyit's important to everyone here,
(10:26):
in Texas and the United States.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So, yeah, that's super interesting though about
the Old Central High School.
What are they using thatbuilding for now, Do you?
Speaker 1 (10:38):
know From a personal perspective I've been there for
several different occasionswhether it's a Black History
program, whether it's a Kwanzaaprogram.
Some of the locals host pop-upshops there with several vendors
.
Some people do funeral repasses.
(10:59):
You know, it's so much morethan Old Central High School to
the community.
It's really a gathering spacefor the community, a new museum
that would be placed.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I guess the projected location for that is on 27th
Street, between Avenue M andAvenue M and 1.5, or in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
M and 1.5.
M and 1.5,.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
OK.
So yeah, on that little lot,and there's nothing in that lot
right now, right Right.
Ok, is that land?
Is it already kind of purchased?
Is it ready to use?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So that is the last standing vacant lot that GISD
owns.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh, ok, yeah, OK.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So it's the last lot, and for many years before I was
born, that lot has been usedspecifically for parking for the
visitors of Curveville Stadium.
So, that's kind of the majordeal breaker right now for the
museum.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, I wonder, there's got to be some way.
Well, even if that's not thelocation, I think that my point
is, I think there needs to besome type of physical place that
people can go and learn aboutJuneteenth, or at least there to
be a place where people cantalk about it or go to learn
(12:14):
about it.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
For as long as I can remember, growing up here in
Galveston, for the most partit's a tourist location, but
then again you do have yourlocals both you and myself, our
locals here and you have theseevents that come throughout the
year that we all celebrate or weall know, such as one of them
(12:40):
coming up in particular MartyGros.
You also have the Biker Rally.
You also have Dickens on theStrand.
You also have another event, Ibelieve is called the Art Walk,
that they host you on the Strand, and I really do appreciate
those events down here.
I've attended the majority ofmy lifetime, unless I was at
(13:02):
Prairie Vienne Universitystudying.
But growing up here inGalveston, those events were
really I'm going to say thisthose events were really fun to
attend.
But I would love to seesomething like that happen for
Juneteenth in a sense, becauseJuneteenth comes around every
(13:23):
summer, of course, june 19th,and we have a parade.
You have a number of littleboys or little girls out there,
whether it's a cheerleading team, a dancing team or a football
team just coming around tocelebrate Juneteenth, and then
we always end up at Rockuny Parkunderneath the Pavilion after
(13:44):
parade.
So we're outside.
We're outside the majority ofthe time well, the entire time,
and I don't see any of uscomplaining about it.
But I think it would be reallynice if we could enjoy that
inside somewhere.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, no, I agree.
I mean it's a place where thereare festivals and events
constantly.
It's every time you walkdowntown on a weekend there's
something going on.
But to be able to have like aJuneteenth Festival or something
like that, every year, maybethe entire month of June or
something like that.
You have something going on asa draw, you know, because just
(14:22):
looking at it from both sides,it is historically significant
and basically making blackpeople free in.
Texas and most of the UnitedStates.
But it could be an economicdriver here in Galveston and
this part of Texas to bringpeople down here every year.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
You definitely write about that because, as I
mentioned, I'm a local myselfand I've worked at several
different jobs down here in myearlier ages and you know the
tourists that come down here,like safe instance, I used to
work at the spot for maybe two,three years in the summertime
and you know you have theseAfrican American couples or
families asking you know, whereare the other African Americans?
(15:01):
Like, where do these AfricanAmericans go to down here to,
like you know, just hang out,have fun and things of those
nature.
And I honestly can't say wehave a space delegated to not
just specifically us but a spacethat we're just like familiar
with and you know everybody iscoming together in a sense Are
you saying it's kind of like, ifyou come down here it's like
(15:24):
white friendly or friendly to alot of other people, but maybe
not so much.
African.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Americans.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Not necessarily, because anywhere I go in
Galveston for the most part Ifeel welcome.
You know what I mean.
But like, say, if I was to cometo the Strand, let's say a
Friday or Saturday night, youknow, nine times out of ten I
might end up at Yagas orTsunamis, that's what I'm
talking about, or I end up atBarefoot.
And it's really a nice thingbecause, you know, as I come
(15:53):
down here or as I travel downhere from school, on the
occasion I get to see some of myclassmates.
You know what I mean.
But for the most part, when I'mat these places, I'm not seeing
, you know, people that I'vegrew up with not just my
classmates, but people I'vegrown up with and nine times out
of ten they're probably justsomewhere and it won't be here,
(16:15):
it might be in the Houston area.
You know, what I mean.
So, yeah, that's what you mean.
That's what you mean.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, because Galveston is an interesting
place in that it is.
It is it's been a very diverseplace for a long time.
I mean as a port city, as youknow, as a tourism city, you've
had a lot of people kind ofmixing and mingling here for
literally a century or more,Right, and even the schools here
are super diverse.
That's why I enjoyed going toschool in like Texas City and a
(16:43):
lot of my friends went to BallHigh.
It was super diverse and nomatter where you would go, you
would kind of you're kind ofjust with everybody from all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Look, they look different than you.
They're black, they're white,they're Hispanic, whatever.
That's what I do love aboutGalveston, but I understand
exactly what you're saying,right Well, so growing up in
Galveston as a kid, did youunderstand the historical
significance of like Juneteenthor Galveston in general?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I would like to say yes, and it wasn't something
that was taught to me actuallyin school.
It was actually the selectivegroup of teachers who know.
You know you have thoseteachers who love their job and
then you have those teachers whoare there just to do their job.
I was blessed enough to bearound some teachers who love to
do their job and go above andbeyond and get you to
(17:31):
participate in the Black HistoryMonth program, get you to
participate in the Juneteenthprogram, get you to participate
in these talent shows dedicatedto black history and things of
those natures.
So I'm very thankful for that.
I would say.
As far as, like the culture ofsignificance of Galveston itself
(17:51):
, that's kind of something thatyou learn as you keep going.
As you're walking down thestreets of downtown or anywhere
in Galveston, you realize youknow there's a lot of history
down here and there's somethings you actually have to
learn through textbooks or atextbook that wasn't provided
through the school programitself.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So what are some of those things you're talking
about that you may or may notlearn in a textbook or at school
?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Some of those things that I may or may not learn in
those textbooks in the schooldefinitely refers to, you know
point of time in history whereyou know there were slaves being
auctioned off here on thestrand.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Oh yeah, right there.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Right there.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
How the buildings along the strand were built by
African Americans and some ofthose African Americans even put
their thumbprints within thebuildings themselves, if you
still have the old existingbuildings here today.
Another thing to mention isthat, you know, I mean Galveston
was like a hub for, like thewealthy, like back then they had
(19:02):
like gambling shacks and thingsof that nature and it was a
beautiful thing.
It's just that we were left outof the picture, if that makes
sense.
So I feel like, in a sense,when that happened, it kind of
just carried over throughout theyears to where the wealthy
establishments on this side ofBroadway and the African
(19:23):
Americans are the blackcommunity.
They don't really have thesemom and pop stores or the brick
and mortar stores that we havetoday in the city, and I think,
culturally speaking, it's not acoincidence.
You know what I mean, and I'mnot saying it's black here and
(19:44):
it's white here, is more so.
We were never taught how to runa business.
We, for the most part,conducted the business for the
business owners.
So I would, you know, I wouldsay, take it with a grain of
salt.
But the black community, I feellike we really need somebody to
step in and say, hey, this ishow we can come together and
(20:05):
establish ourselves within acity that we're no one behold to
, and hold true to that versusus, you know, going around and
just complaining about what wedon't have here.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, because you know I was speaking to a few
people on the podcast I've hadand just general conversation.
You know these usually ladiesI'm talking to, they're in there
like maybe 60s, maybe late 60sand they talk about growing up
in Galveston and they talk abouthow their first, they were some
of the first integrated classesin growing up, like growing up
(20:40):
in elementary, even up to ballhigh school, and you look at
that and talk for younger peopletoday that is so hard to
imagine.
Is segregation Right?
And you talk to people who arejust in their 60s who they were
the first integrated class.
Right, that's not that long ago, right At all.
You're right about that.
(21:01):
And it just it blows my mindbecause growing up, you know, in
a very diverse school, verydiverse neighborhood, very
diverse area, it never evencrossed my mind that that was
even it felt so far away, youknow, but it's really not.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And you know, to come back to economics and owning
businesses and things like that,it takes a long time to get
over that, as you.
I mean, I'm preaching the choirhere I mean you understand, but
it takes a very long time toget over that.
What was going to prayer?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
view A&M like that is a that is a really great
question.
So at prayer view it was onebig melting pot in a sense.
You hear about HBCUshistorically black college
universities and you reallydon't get the gist of it until
(21:50):
you actually attend to one.
So, like how you said, in thegals and people been mixing and
mingling since forever.
You can go to Prairie View andsee somebody that looks just
like me or just like you and youdon't wanna assume I could tell
you that right now that they'rewhite or African-American or
they're from America.
They can be from DominicanRepublic, they can be from Egypt
(22:11):
, they can be from Asia, and youwould never know until you sit
there and have a conversationwith them.
And I think what Prairie Viewdoes is they're pretty much
diverse when it comes to thingslike that, where they have you
get into know each other notjust from a classroom but
outside of the classroom, ifthat makes sense.
But Prairie View was definitelya great experience, especially
(22:33):
with me being in thearchitecture program.
I got to learn a lot abouthistory associated with
architecture.
I also took a history class inthere that was pretty
significant in my life, where Igot a different side of the coin
of the story about the slavetrade and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
What was that about?
Can you expand on that a littlebit?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That time period was much more horrific than what we
were told in lower education orelementary or middle school.
For the most part, the educationthat we're taught as a young
kid, it's pretty much the samething throughout the years and
(23:19):
it's pretty much a story thatthey want you to know.
From my opinion, versus a storythat you need to know, and the
way African-American people weretreated is far worse than what
we think.
And a particular story that myprofessor mentioned to me was
how, in the past, you would geta ship and there would be tons
(23:42):
of African-Americans well, atthe time, africans on these
ships and they would try to pilethem up as much as they could
to get on these ships and ofcourse, they were malnourished.
They weren't really fed.
Of course you had feces andthings of that nature.
You had pregnant women on theseboats.
You had some people who decidedto jump off these boats because
(24:06):
they felt like their life inbondage was just not for them.
You also have some of the shipcaptains trying to deal with the
feces on the ships and one ofthe particular methods was
actually stuffing their anuswith, let's say, the things you
(24:26):
get out of the wine bottle.
Because you could have a corkstuffing corks of the anuses to
keep the feces from comingaround the ship, because you
have plagues and diseases andthings of that nature that might
spread about the ship.
And what's a ship with no goodslaves once you get over to
America?
So that was one of the thingsthat really kind of opened my
(24:47):
eyes up in a sense and got abetter aspect of what that time
period was like.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, I'm glad you expanded on that, because I
encourage all people.
I couldn't recommend a specificbook or anything like that, but
I recommend everyone to.
If you hear something abouthistory, it sounds kind of
unbelievable, or it seems likeit's even sugar coated in a way.
Dive deeper into those subjects,whether it is the slave trade,
whether it is anything war,literally anything dive deeper
(25:19):
on those things and try tounderstand how horrific those
things were and what led up tosome of the events that we know
here of in America and Texas andGalveston Right Wow, that is
insane, and to kind of know thatwe Galveston ties into that
story.
(25:40):
It really is fascinating.
Yeah, I know there are a lot ofpeople who are like, okay,
we've talked about the slavetrade, we've talked about
slavery, things like that, let'smove on.
You hear people say, just moveon, look where we are now.
What do you say to people whoare like let's just move on,
like, come on, forget about it,bernard, that's over, it's 2024.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
See, the thing with that is, I'm not one to hold
grudges against anybody and I'malso a firm believer in
everybody is entitled to theirown opinion.
But for those same people thathave that opinion, who say let's
just get over it, I would sayreevaluate the circumstances.
Let's compare this time periodof time and the current time
(26:28):
period that we live in now, andthe only thing that I could say
that has changed is that we'remore capable of doing things on
our own as far as like readingand writing and things of that
nature.
We're more capable of buying ahouse or maybe getting our own
space and not still living inthe times that we were living in
(26:52):
, where it didn't matter whereyou live as long as you were out
here working and things of thatnature.
And not only to say that, butalso compare your lifestyle to
maybe somebody in not only anAfrican-American community but
somebody who was in a minoritycommunity, and just really think
, dive into the history behindyour family and then dive into
(27:16):
the history of my family and youtell me, was there any fair
play involved?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Very well said.
Why don't you start a podcast?
My man Too busy.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, that's a story of my life.
Too busy, maybe after themaster's program, which I'll be
done with, oh so you're doing amaster's program, okay, so in
architecture?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Oh awesome, dude, is that?
Where's that Prairie View?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
as well, at Prairie View as well, oh really.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Are you actually attending, or is it mostly
online, or how are you workingthat?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
out.
It's kind of a hybrid thing towhere I have to be maybe on the
campus once or twice out theweek, but for the most part,
what's keeping me from just likebeing in Galaxy right now is
I've already signed a lease.
Oh yeah, so I can't get out ofthat, but yeah, so for the most
part it's a online setting.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
And particularly in my situation is I go to the
Northwest campus versus the maincampus, and that campus is
mainly dedicated to thosestudents who are in the graduate
program.
But they also have jobs or acareer already, and most of
those jobs or careers are inHouston area.
So you don't wanna have tocommute from Prairie View all
(28:26):
the way to Houston day by dayjust so you can go to class and
to work.
So whereas you're at theNorthwest campus, you're maybe
30, 35 minutes away from work,versus being an hour or so away
from work from Prairie View.
So yeah, Gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So how did you meet Sam Sam Collins?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I met Sam, I believe, the summer of 2021 or 2022.
And at the time I believe I wasin my third year at Prairie,
third or fourth year at PrairieView, and we were proposed to do
a design charrette against well, not against, but paired with
Texas A&M University as well.
(29:08):
And they gave us the proposalof a Juneteenth Museum in
Galveston and I'm gonna behonest, at that time I thought
it was just like another project.
We just so happened to be inGalveston and we're doing a
historic project.
But as time proceeded, I'vegrown a relationship with Mr Sam
(29:31):
Collins and he shared somelights on a number of things.
That gives me a betterunderstanding as to what we're
trying to do with the JuneteenthMuseum in itself.
And then I wanna say I alsoread one of his guest columns to
maybe a month or two aftermeeting him and figuring out who
(29:55):
he actually was down here inGalveston, texas.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
He's doing some amazing work.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And he kinda operates in silence too, which is really
really cool.
And then you meet him and talkto him and you kinda see what
he's working on and you're likeoh my gosh, dude, You're doing
some amazing, amazing work anddoing some really cool stuff.
But yeah, he's a wonderful,wonderful man.
Do you think that people yourage do you think that they
understand that history isimportant?
(30:23):
Or do you think people are justkind of living their lives and
kind of floating through andjust I don't know, just kind of
moving forward?
Do you think people care abouthistory?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Well, I can't speak for everybody, but I would say I
could.
I guess I could speak for theAfrican American community.
I would say, you know, we're socaught up in the lives that we
do have that, weren't, I guessyou can say, well thought out
before we were on this earth,based on the circumstances that
(30:56):
came before us.
And we're still playing thisconstant game where we have to
catch up and once we catch upwe're 10 steps backwards, and
when we catch up again we'restill 10 steps backwards.
But in regards to the historic,you know, things we do have here
(31:18):
going on in Galveston againJuneteenth.
I believe that is onesignificant occasion where we
actually celebrate as acommunity and do things the
right way, put our pride aside,put our differences aside and
actually come together.
And for the most part, it's notfor the generation who knows
(31:41):
about Juneteenth.
It's more so about usleveraging that and instilling
that into the generation thatcomes after us.
Because if you ever been to theparade and you see these little
girls out here dancing, youcan't tell me that they just
don't appreciate this holiday.
You know what I mean, yeah, andyou know people think of
history as like a non-factor andthings.
(32:04):
But if you pay attention tohistory, it highlights the
reasons why things are the waythey are today, if that makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
That's perfect.
That's why we're sitting inthese chairs right now the way
history played out, you know andwho knows, you could be making
history right now.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I hope so, I hope so.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Is there anything else that I haven't asked you,
that you may have thought of,that you wanted to say?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
If we could piggyback on the board meeting that we
had last night in regards to oneof the major issues was the
parking issues, and then I'mopen to anything else you have
to ask me, because I feel youasked that one question and I
got deep into it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
No, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I don't know what I was able to say.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
You can say whatever you want.
There are no limits.
You can say whatever you want.
Just to compliment you you are.
I can see why Sam sent you overhere and connected us.
You've got a lot going on andyou're going to do some amazing
things.
You're very well spoken, youknow exactly what you want and
(33:10):
you know talking about futuregenerations and then what you
can do to improve in futuregenerations.
That is what we should bethinking about.
That's what humanity should bethinking about.
What can we improve for futuregenerations Not just our kids,
but our kids' friends and ourpeople a hundred years from now.
People, not just ourdescendants.
(33:30):
You know what I mean.
The design of the JuneteenthMuseum.
So, are you working on thedesign for that?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
So actually, when we initially got the proposal to do
the Juneteenth Museum, bothPrevianum and Texanum University
this is like in the earlierstages, so this is probably 21,.
Some of 2021 or some of 2022.
But however, that projectelongated through several
semesters since then and some ofthe kids who are in that actual
(34:01):
class that have that actualproject under the professive Mr
Batson, they often come to meand ask me about Juneteenth so
they can get a real culturalaspect, because I'm from
Galveston, born and raised.
So if anybody knows aboutJuneteenth, it should be me.
You know what I mean,especially if they want to know
about the surrounding area asfar as the churches and things
(34:24):
of that nature.
And just so happened, jarvis,we were both in our
undergraduate program, the finalsemester, and we ended up
taking two different courses.
Whereas the course he was in heactually got to do the
Juneteenth Museum, the course Iwas in I was doing maybe a
Taekwondo facility or somethinglike that.
Oh no way or that nature.
(34:45):
But again, jarvis is abrilliant, brilliant young man.
He's also obtained hisbachelor's in engineering and
he's also pursuing his master'sin architecture, so that makes
him far more along the trackthan I am right now.
But then again, it's not abouthim or me.
(35:07):
It's about us coming togetherin a sense, so for me to be
there and share my perspectiveand give my input on the design
of the project and the impactthat I feel like it would give
the community.
That was the real reason that Iwas there.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Okay, so if people want to support I know there was
a public meeting yesterday, butif people want to support from
the time this podcast comes out,what can the general Galveston
population do to support theJuneteenth Museum?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
One of the main takeaways I got last night about
the problem you just stated wasthat there hasn't been any
survey asking the locals ofGalveston how they feel about
Juneteenth, or how do they feelabout actually creating a
(35:55):
Juneteenth Museum, or shouldthey renovate Old Central High
School?
How do they feel about usingthat vacant lot for the building
Because of that nature?
So I believe that would be thenext step moving forward from a
community aspect is to reallyget in some feedback, because
one of the things they broughtup in the board meeting was you
(36:16):
know it was an old citycouncilman I can't remember his
name, forgive me, but hementioned, you know, the
community is the reason you guysare sitting in the seats that
you guys are sitting in, so tosay that nobody has made the
effort to ask the community howdo they feel about, you know,
(36:39):
the Juneteenth Museum isbaffling in a sense.
So I feel, like you know,getting that survey would be a
vital role and maybe gettingsome real numbers or a real
aspect as to where we're goingwith the direction of the
Juneteenth Museum.
Another thing I would say wouldbe they brought up the topic of
(37:05):
parking right and as I'msitting there, I'm observing the
room and I'm the youngestperson in the building and I'm
assuming the people that werethere they've been there for
quite some time because, again,they're older than me and the
main thing that they werediscussing was, you know,
parking.
(37:25):
You know.
And again, they just renovatedthe Curbill Stadium and somebody
mentioned that you know theyhave several parking spaces on
the north wing of the building,I mean on the north wing of the
stadium.
How they have, you know, atleast 10 to 15 new handicapped
spots in front of the stadiumand things of that nature.
(37:47):
And there's more about you know.
Okay, if you know you have thisamount of parking spots.
I believe they said the vacantlot holds up to 125 cars, maybe
150 maximum, and you know youhave a good deal of parking
spots around the stadium.
Why not just subtract thatnumber and get a real number as
(38:08):
to how many parking spots weneed, delegate the time to
figure out you know the layoutof that parking and then go from
there.
And parking has never been anissue in Gauss.
Well, it's always been an issuein Gauss.
And so if you want to buy arally or if there's a parade or
anything of that nature,nobody's bringing up these,
(38:28):
these topics at that time?
Because if they did, why is itstill going around?
Why are we still celebratingMardi Gras?
Why are we still doing dickenson the strand?
Why are we still doing bikerrally?
Biker rally is a is a very,very populated time of the year
for Galveston, and not only that, there are fatalities
associated with biker rally.
Or was that Jeep weekend?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
things of that nature .
Speaker 1 (38:51):
But one of the things that I would say that could
help as far as the parking issue, why not get a shuttle system
involved?
I feel like that's that'spractical, to get a shuttle
system involved.
If you have these delegatedparking spots for the handicap
that you do need and will need,why not introduce shuttle
service?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Yeah, yeah, just for the sake of asking are there any
other locations that have beenthought about?
I know that that spot there on27th and between M and M and a
half is owned by GISD Right.
Are there any other locationsthat have been thought?
Speaker 1 (39:26):
about, not that I can think off the top of my head,
but I know they were discussingdoing something with some of the
suites in the neoculturalcenter down here on the strand,
but then again, that isn't anentirety of a building dedicated
(39:46):
to Juneteenth.
You have several otherbusinesses or suites that are
associated with it, and I thinkwhat we're trying to do is, or
what we would appreciate is,having something of our own, but
not our own.
It'll be something for thecommunity in itself.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah, yeah, well, okay, so all right.
So that's kind of where itstands right now.
We're still still fighting forit.
Yeah, to create a physicalspace where you can go and learn
and appreciate Juneteenth RightTalk about historic
preservation, right and the1970s Galveston Historical
(40:21):
Foundation they really beganpushing to preserve a lot of
these buildings down here.
Obviously, not every one of themwas saved, because a lot of
them were being torn down, a lotof them burnt down because they
were underutilized, there wasnobody in them, they hadn't been
taken care of for decades Right, but they're super important.
But I do see a lot of frictionwhen it comes to creating
(40:43):
something new, even though itdirectly relates to something
historical and preservinghistory.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So that's just very, very interesting Something to
think about for those listeningright.
Right, is there anything elseyou wanted to?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
say, when the survey is released, make sure you
participate it.
I'm not sure on the exact dateit will be releasing, but please
, please, please, get involved.
Get your mom involved, get yoursister involved, get your
grandfather involved, get yourniece involved, get your past
involved.
It is very, very, veryimportant that we get the
(41:21):
community involved.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah just to hear from the community.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Just to everyone what do you think about this Right?
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Well, cool.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Well, I'll know.
I'll share it whenever it comesout.
You know Well, bernard.
Thank you so much, man.
This has been great.
You were by far the youngestperson I've ever had on the
podcast.
I really appreciate you comingin and lending your perspective
and your work.
You're doing really good things, man.
You're doing really good thingsand, to be from Galveston man,
(41:47):
I'm proud that you're fromGalveston.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
You're doing some awesome stuff.
Thank you, yeah, well, thanks,man.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Absolutely Well, we're gonna have you back on one
of these days.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Okay, I look forward to it, yes, sir.
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