Since this is a blog about travel and culture, I felt it was time to have a post that highlights the history and culture of Black Americans. For this post, I am focused on Juneteenth, a celebration of the last enslaved Africans in the United States finally getting word of their freedom. I am featuring my trip to Houston to visit with family and celebrate Juneteenth! My family has always celebrated Juneteenth at our individual homes, but only in the past couple of years did it become a true family gathering. This will be my first year getting to join everyone in the celebration and I was so excited to make plans to be there! Before getting into the adventure story, I'll give you a summary about the history of Juneteenth.
Note: The cover image for this post is a stock photo and not a picture of my actual family. I wanted to respect the privacy of my family members and did not include any pictures of them in this Juneteenth post.
What is Juneteenth?
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which was meant to provide freedom to enslaved Africans in the United States. However, that was not the true end of slavery because word of the signing was not shared and acted on in Texas until June 19, 1865 after the announcement of General Order No. 3 was shared in Galveston by Union Army general Gordon Granger. This day went on to be called Juneteenth or Freedom Day and is now a day for the descendants of those who were enslaved to celebrate the freedom that had finally been returned to our ancestors who were left to make a home for themselves in a land that they forced to migrate to. Juneteenth is a significant day in Texas and U.S. history. After spending more years than what should have been necessary of calling for the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday by Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth", and many others, it officially became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. From now on, June 19th will be celebrated as a federal holiday, and this recognition will hopefully continue to shine a light on the history that Juneteenth stems from.
I only provided a brief summary of Juneteenth's history to give you some context for this blog post, but I strongly encourage you to continue learning more about Juneteenth and why this is such an important day in history.
Planning for the Trip
I live about 200 miles from Houston, so I had to carefully plan for this trip to accomplish multiple tasks while in town. First, I had to think about the best and fastest route. Gas prices these days are double what I had been paying over the past several years and sitting in traffic or a lot of stop-and-go traffic in the Texas heat would be awful for fuel economy. I also made plans for hair appointment while visiting, taking graduation photos, and arranging for my great aunt's sister to come along for the trip. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit to coordinate. However, everything did go according to plan!
The Journey to Houston
One thing I recently started doing is paying for toll roads. In the past, I was not a fan of taking toll roads because I didn't think it would be necessary to spend money on driving to your destination other than routine car maintenance (gas, oil change, tires, etc.). I took toll roads for this trip and it was great! I had a wonderful passenger (my great aunt's sister) with me for the 3 hour drive and the toll roads provided faster and lower traffic routes to our destination. We left in the morning and were in Houston by early afternoon. I know toll roads are not something everyone prefers, but it's a good option to consider if you want to focus on driving without the stress of traffic and a quicker trip.
Our Juneteenth Celebration
Mikki's Soul Food
To make sure we could celebrate with as much family as possible, we held our Freedom Day gathering yesterday because Saturday was a better day for scheduling. Our gathering of a dozen family members across different family trees, decked out in Juneteenth t-shirts, came together for lunch in the party room Mikki's Soul Food. The party room already comes with centerpieces and chair coverings (a newer feature), but my mom and aunt arrived a little early to set up some other Juneteenth decorations and get the room set up.
The popular entrée amongst my family was the ox tails, but smothered turkey wings was a close second. I had been craving fried chicken for some months now and had that as my entrée. I got sweet tea as my drink and that is by far some of the sweetest tea that I've ever had. If you love extra sweet tea, you'll want to make sure to order sweet tea with your meal. As always, they gave us A LOT of food and everything was well-seasoned and very tasty!
As we were all making our exit to continue our gathering at my grandma's house, we noticed a book signing had just started. The featured book, Young W1on's ABC Voyage, was written by a young author and music artist named Young W1on and illustrated by Kevin Palmer. My mom loves opportunities to get books signed by their authors! Since Young W1on was there to promote his children's a book, my mom had it signed for my young niece so she could have a new book when she visits my parents next week. The book even comes with access to Young W1on's music, so I think my niece will love this surprise gift!
Surprise 91st Birthday Party
Speaking of surprises, our family gathering continued at my grandma's house so we could celebrate our cousin's 91st birthday! In this past month, he was able to become united with my grandma who is his first cousin. Even though we only recently met his side of the family, the family connection is so strong and it was wonderful not only having them present for our Juneteenth celebration, but also to celebrate his 91 years of life! We had cupcakes from Sugar Rush and Cynthia's Kitchen –– two Black-owned bakeries in the Houston area. After singing "Happy Birthday" (both traditional and the soulful versions), we were blessed with a heartfelt speech full of gratitude for the surprise party from my 91 year old cousin. He was moved to tears by the opportunity to be with the most family he has had a chance to spend time with in several years. His words were a beautiful reminder that family is something to be cherished and enjoying the moments you're able to spend with them is important.
After eating cupcakes and enjoying some other Juneteenth staples, including "red soda water" (red cream soda) and some watermelon (not quite sure if it was eaten, but it was discussed), we took some group photos. My cousin, being 91 years old, needed to return home to rest and those of us remaining continued eating cupcakes, chatting, and snacking on soul food-themed popcorn from Soul Popped –– the first Black-owned business in Barton Creek Square Mall in Austin, TX. We had plans for Juneteenth trivia, but were all so deep into our different conversations that we decided to put the trivia game on hold until next year. This was a wonderful day and I couldn't have asked for it be any better than what it was! I can't wait for next year's Juneteenth celebration and hopefully we'll be able to have even more family members join our gathering!
Want to see more pictures from my family's Juneteenth gathering? Follow Kimi's Travel Thoughts (@kimistravelthoughts) on Instagram!
Feel free to leave comments below, tweet (@KimiThoughts), or leave a post/message on Facebook (@KimisTravelThoughts) and share how your family and friends celebrate Juneteenth!