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Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Juneteenth celebration in Portsmouth: 'We have a lot to resist and a lot to renew'
PORTSMOUTH — Playing joyful anthems, The Leftist Marching Band led the Freedom March into the African Burying Ground Memorial Park to begin the annual celebration of Juneteenth. Hundreds followed gathering in the hot sun to honor the city's Black ancestors and history, renew its vow to remember its heritage accurately, and celebrate the freedom whose fragility is better understood today than ever in recent memory. The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire's annual Juneteenth ceremony on Thursday, June 19 was a special one: It marked the 10th anniversary of the city's establishing the memorial park to honor the once-forgotten Black ancestors buried there and included its rededication. The memorial park is sacred ground in Portsmouth. Dedicated in May 2015, it memorializes more 200 people of African descent who were buried in the area of Chestnut Street during the 1700s. In the 1800s, as the city grew, the site was built over and forgotten. In 2003, the burial site was uncovered during work on an infrastructure project. DNA testing confirmed the bodies found were of African descent and had been enslaved in the city. Learning the site's history, the city created a memorial to honor it. 'These are things I didn't learn in school, and I grew up here,' said Portsmouth Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley, after listing the city's now-known Black historical moments. 'This place was on maps for hundreds of years and then it disappeared from them.' She said it took hundreds of years to find the African Burying Ground again. 'The fall of democracy starts with erasing a map,' she said. Kelley was joined by Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Portsmouth Mayor Declan McEachern, BHTNH Executive Director JerriAnne Boggis and other officials as she cut a red ribbon with large gold scissors to rededicate the memorial park. Earlier in the ceremony, Boggis welcomed those in attendance. 'This is New Hampshire. Look around you,' she said. 'Many of you have been with us this week on a sacred journey of remembering, of resistance and renewal. We have a lot to resist and a lot to renew.' She noted how the park's 'sacred ground, the final resting place of over 200 of our ancestors, had once been built over, covered up and erased.' 'It's going to take all of us, working together, with our feet on the ground,' Boggis said. 'To create the change we want to see and the America we want to be.' Tara Conner of South Berwick, Maine, brought her young children to the Juneteenth ceremony 'because I want to them to be really well-educated in our history so we can learn from it and do better next time.' Leah Conte, who was also there with her family from South Berwick, said, 'I feel like it's such an important part of Portsmouth history that needs to be recognized and remembered,' 'It's important to embrace the beautiful diversity Portsmouth has and has had for a long time,' said Sandra Khin, a Portsmouth native who now lives in Los Angeles. She attended with her two kids, her mother and her sister. 'It's an important holiday celebrating the final emancipation of enslaved people and it still remains an ongoing struggle.' Roza Anthony came to Portsmouth from Stowe, Massachusetts, with her son Dante 'because I'm raising a White man and it's my responsibility that he respects and knows our history, and has an understanding of it,' she said. 'I need him to know how to move in the world in a way that is kind, thoughtful and taking care of people.' The Rev. Robert Thompson began the ceremony with a prayer and a traditional pouring of a libation to pay tribute to Black ancestors. He asked the crowd to imagine what it must have been like for the enslaved people in Texas who found out they'd been freed two years after the fact, after other slaves were free, on that first Juneteenth. 'America takes work … the dream of America, the idea that despite our differences, all can be one. That claim of democracy that inspires the whole world, it takes work to realize it,' he said. 'To celebrate the freedom of everyone in the nation, not just some … That's the intricacy of America.' The Freedom March to the memorial park before the ceremony began in Kittery, crossed the Memorial Bridge and continued through the city to the park, organized by The Seacoast African American Cultural Center, Green Acre Baha'i Center of Learning, and Seacoast NAACP. After the ceremony and park rededication, the traditional African drumming and dance group Akwaaba Ensemble took the celebration to an energetic and joyful climax. At points, Akwaaba dancers led members of the crowd in group dances with many unable to resist the beat of the drums. In a first for the annual ceremony, a Community Dance to the viral song 'Boots On The Ground' concluded the ceremony in a synchronated dancing flash mob of community members that filled the memorial park. 'We must not be scared to wear our pride on our sleeves, on our shirts, on our hearts,' Kelley said. 'We have to be louder than the silence that is put upon us. This is not a black and white issue. It is every color in between. Our brothers and sisters are being held illegally for what? For wanting to live the American Dream.' Hassan said her father, a veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge, used to ask her often 'What are you doing for freedom today?' She said these days she is often asked 'What can I do?' by citizens. 'Right now, words are the most powerful tools we have. Words matter, the Declaration of Independence matters, our voices and our votes matter. But progress is not a straight line.' Rep. Maggie Goodlander thanked the crowd for gathering. 'You can't fake showing up and you can't fake showing up together,' Goodlander said. 'We get strength from this place. We are what we remember.' This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Juneteenth in Portsmouth: 'We have a lot to resist and a lot to renew'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Juneteenth celebrations across the US commemorate the end of slavery
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Juneteenth celebrations unfolded across the U.S. on Thursday to mark the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Texas. The events include one in Galveston — the holiday's birthplace — where former President Joe Biden was expected. Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, but became more widely observed after Biden designated it a federal holiday in 2021. It is recognized at least as an observance in every state, and nearly 30 states and Washington, D.C., have designated it as a permanent paid or legal holiday through legislation or executive action. On the East Coast, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire orchestrated a weekslong celebration that will culminate with a community dance and rededication of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth. In Virginia, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held for rebuilding the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, one of the nation's oldest Black churches, The holiday to mark the end of slavery in the U.S. goes back to an order issued on June 19, 1865 as Union troops arrived in Galveston at the end of the Civil War. General Order No. 3 declared that all enslaved people in the state were free and had 'absolute equality." Those who planned the history tours, community discussions and other events in New Hampshire said they wanted to highlight contradictions in the familiar narratives about the nation's founding fathers ahead of next year's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 'Although they are historically courageous, smart men, they were also human. They held people in bondage. They had children with their enslaved,' said JerriAnne Boggis, the Heritage Trail's executive director. 'What would the story look like if the story of America was told from these Black descendants?' The celebrations come as President Donald Trump's administration has worked to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, in the federal government and remove content about Black American history from federal websites. Trump's travel ban on visitors from select countries has also led to bitter national debate. During his first administration, Trump issued statements each June 19, including one that ended with 'On Juneteenth 2017, we honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America's promise as the land of the free.' New Hampshire, one of the nation's whitest states, is not among those with a permanent, paid or legal Juneteenth holiday, and Boggis said her hope that lawmakers would take action making it one is waning. 'I am not so sure anymore given the political environment we're in," she said. 'I think we've taken a whole bunch of steps backwards in understanding our history, civil rights and inclusion.' Still, she hopes New Hampshire's events and those elsewhere will make a difference. 'It's not a divisive tool to know the truth. Knowing the truth helps us understand some of the current issues that we're going through,' she said. And if spreading that truth comes with a bit of fun, all the better, she said. 'When we come together, when we break bread together, we enjoy music together, we learn together, we dance together, we're creating these bonds of community,' she said. 'As much was we educate, we also want to celebrate together.'
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Juneteenth celebrations across the US commemorate the end of slavery
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Celebrations around the U.S. are marking Thursday as Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Texas. An organization that promotes African American history and culture in New Hampshire got an early start commemorating the holiday, even as President Donald Trump's administration works to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, in the federal government and is removing content about Black American history from federal websites. The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire orchestrated a weekslong celebration that will culminate with a community dance and rededication of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth. The Illinois town of Plano made history in its celebration of Juneteenth, but now the party's getting moved to YorkvilleThose who planned the history tours, community discussions and other events in New Hampshire said they wanted to highlight contradictions in the familiar narratives about the nation's founding fathers ahead of next year's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 'Although they are historically courageous, smart men, they were also human. They held people in bondage. They had children with their enslaved,' said JerriAnne Boggis, the Heritage Trail's executive director. 'What would the story look like if the story of America was told from these Black descendants?' Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, but became more widely observed after former President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday in 2021. It is recognized at least as an observance in every state, and nearly 30 states and Washington, D.C., have designated it as a permanent paid or legal holiday through legislation or executive action. During his first administration, Trump issued statements each June 19, including one that ended with 'On Juneteenth 2017, we honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America's promise as the land of the free.' This year's celebratory events come amid bitter national debates about Trump's travel ban on visitors from select countries and his administration's many anti-DEI initiatives. New Hampshire, one of the nation's whitest states, is not among those with a permanent, paid or legal Juneteenth holiday, and Boggis said her hope that lawmakers would take action making it one is waning. 'I am not so sure anymore given the political environment we're in,' she said. 'I think we've taken a whole bunch of steps backwards in understanding our history, civil rights and inclusion.' Still, she hopes New Hampshire's events and those elsewhere will make a difference. 'It's not a divisive tool to know the truth. Knowing the truth helps us understand some of the current issues that we're going through,' she said. And if spreading that truth comes with a bit of fun, all the better, she said. 'When we come together, when we break bread together, we enjoy music together, we learn together, we dance together, we're creating these bonds of community,' she said. 'As much was we educate, we also want to celebrate together.'
a day ago
- Politics
New Hampshire's Juneteenth celebration culminates with dance event
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- By the time the drumming and dancing starts Thursday, an organization that promotes African American history and culture in New Hampshire will have hosted nearly a dozen events to celebrate Juneteenth. The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire's weekslong celebration will culminate with the rededication of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth and a community dance. But those who planned the history tours, community discussions and other events to commemorate June 19, 1865 — the day Union solders brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Texas — also were looking ahead to next year's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Executive Director JerriAnne Boggis said her organization and other partners want to highlight contradictions in the familiar narratives about the nation's founding fathers. 'Although they are historically courageous, smart men, they were also human. They held people in bondage. They had children with their enslaved,' she said. 'What would the story look like if the story of America was told from these Black descendants?' Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, but became more widely celebrated after former President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday in 2021. It is recognized at least as an observance in every state, and nearly 30 states and Washington, D.C., have designated it as a permanent paid or legal holiday through legislation or executive action. But this year's celebrations come as President Donald Trump has banned diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, in the federal government and removed content about Black American history from federal websites. The White House said last week that plans for a Juneteenth event or proclamation this year have not been decided. During his first administration, Trump issued statements each June 19, including one that ended with 'On Juneteenth 2017, we honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America's promise as the land of the free.' The bitter national debates about Trump's travel ban and DEI initiatives haven't overshadowed celebrations of the end of slavery in the U.S., however, and events are happening around the country Thursday. New Hampshire, one of the nation's whitest states, is not among those with a permanent Juneteenth holiday, and Boggis said her hope that lawmakers would take action is waning. 'I am not so sure anymore given the political environment we're in," she said. 'I think we've taken a whole bunch of steps backwards in understanding our history, civil rights and inclusion.' Still, she hopes New Hampshire's events and others elsewhere will make a difference. 'It's not a divisive tool to know the truth. Knowing the truth helps us understand some of the current issues that we're going through,' she said. And if spreading that truth comes with a bit of fun, all the better, she said. 'When we come together, when we break bread together, we enjoy music together, we learn together, we dance together, we're creating these bonds of community,' she said. 'As much was we educate, we also want to celebrate together.'
Washington Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
New Hampshire's Juneteenth celebration culminates with dance event
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — By the time the drumming and dancing starts Thursday, an organization that promotes African American history and culture in New Hampshire will have hosted nearly a dozen events to celebrate Juneteenth . The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire's weekslong celebration will culminate with the rededication of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth and a community dance. But those who planned the history tours, community discussions and other events to commemorate June 19, 1865 — the day Union solders brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Texas — also were looking ahead to next year's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence .
