NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – After becoming a federal holiday in 2021, the United States of America is poised to have its first fully national Juneteenth celebration and observation this year.
While the story behind the Juneteenth’s importance is widely known now, stories about how former slaves struggled to transition to freedom are still emerging. One such story is the subject of this very special episode of Beyond Black History Month.
Speaking with the descendants of one of the last African Americans freed from Galveston, Texas, listen as host Femi Redwood discovers a previously unknown history firsthand. Learn how one man’s love for both his family and community helped keep the annual celebration alive, and how one self-sufficient Black town got built in the process.
He taught them that, “they came from enslavement, but there was so much more in store for them in being able to make their own decisions,” Jaqueline Bostick McElroy says of her great-great-grandfather Jack Yates.
“To have their own community, to have grocery stores, to have a theater and know who they were as a people [gave them] their own volition,” she adds.
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