Juneteenth: A Novel

Amazon.com

Invisible Man, which Ralph Ellison published in 1952, was one of the great debuts in contemporary literature. Alternating phantasmagoria with rock-ribbed realism, it delved into the blackest (and whitest!) corners of the American psyche, and quickly attained the status of legend. Ellison's follow-up, however, seemed truly bedeviled--not only by its monumental predecessor, but by fate itself. First, a large section of the novel went up in flames when the author's house burned in 1967. Then he spent decades reconstructing, revising, and expanding his initial vision. When Ellison died in 1994, he left behind some 2,000 pages of manuscript. Yet this mythical mountain of prose was clearly unfinished, far too sketchy and disjointed to publish. Apparently Ellison's second novel would never appear.

Or would it? Ellison's literary executor, John Callahan, has now quarried a smaller, more coherent work from all that raw material. Gone are the epic proportions that Ellison so clearly envisioned. Instead, Juneteenth revolves around just two characters: Adam Sunraider, a white, race-baiting New England senator, and Alonzo "Daddy" Hickman, a black Baptist minister who turns out to have a paradoxical (and paternal) relationship to his opposite number. As the book opens, Sunraider is delivering a typically bigoted peroration on the Senate floor when he's peppered by an assassin's bullets. Mortally wounded, he summons the elderly Hickman to his bedside. There the two commence a journey into their shared past, which (unlike the rest of 1950s America) represents a true model of racial integration.

Adam, we discover, was born Bliss, and raised by Hickman in the bosom of the black community. What's more, this rabble-rouser was being groomed as a boy minister. ("I tell you, Bliss," says Hickman, "you're going to make a fine preacher and you're starting at just the right age. You're just a little over six and Jesus Christ himself didn't start until he was twelve.") The portion of Juneteenth that covers Bliss's ecclesiastical education--perhaps a third of the entire book--is as electrifying as anything in Invisible Man. Ellison juggles the multiple ironies of race and religion with effortless brilliance, and his delight in Hickman's house-wrecking rhetoric is contagious:

Bliss, I've heard you cutting some fancy didoes on the radio, but son, Eatmore was romping and rampaging and walking through Jerusalem just like John! Oh, but wasn't he romping! Maybe you were too young to get it all, but that night that mister was ten thousand misters and his voice was pure gold.

In comparison, though, the rest of the novel seems like pretty slim pickings. For one thing, much of the plot--including Bliss's transformation from pint-sized preacher to United States senator--is absent. For another, Ellison's confinement of the two top-billed players to a hospital room makes for an awfully static narrative. Granted, he intended their dialogue to exist "on a borderline between the folk poetry and religious rhetoric" (or so he wrote in his notes). But this is a dicey recipe for a novel, and Juneteenth veers between naturalism and hallucination much less effectively than its predecessor did.

None of this is to assail Ellison's artistry, which remains on ample display. The problem is that Callahan's splice job--which well may be the best one possible--remains weak at the seams. So should readers give Juneteenth a miss? The answer would still have to be no. The best parts are as powerful and necessary as anything in our literature, evoking Daddy Hickman's own brand of verbal enchantment. "I was talking like I always talk," he recalls at one point, "in the same old down-home voice, that is, in the beloved idiom... [and] I preached those five thousand folks into silence." Ellison, too, is capable of preaching the reader into silence--and that's not something we can afford to overlook. --James Marcus

Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"[A]n extraordinary book, a work of staggering virtuosity. With its publication, a giant world of literature has just grown twice as tall."--Newsday

From Ralph Ellison--author of the classic novel of African-American experience, Invisible Man--the long-awaited second novel. Here is the master of American vernacular--the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech--at the height of his powers, telling a powerful, evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century.

"Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate Negro preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a mystery: how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? Brilliantly crafted, moving, wise, Juneteenth is the work of an American master.

Customer Reviews:

A Masterpiece.......2006-02-23

A novel about the truth as seen through the eyes of a fiction--indeed, the truth, to Ellison, was always suspect to the lie and again, as in the phrase the emancipation myth, where freedom wasn't given by the law but the law was only subject to the people who inforced it as truth, and thus Juneteenth, as the title of the last great work by an even greater artist, seems to be apt, for it suggests this dichotomy that Ellison was to work in all of his career.

Always a symbolist at heart, Ellison demonstates in Juneteenth the potential of words to turn even the most innocent of scenes on its head, fleshing out the meaning of slavery in something so unrelated as a circus as when Daddy Hickman takes Bliss to the circus, and Bliss innocently asks how come the lions don't catch the trainer, and Daddy Hickman explains that the lions are mastered. And with that small amount of information, the reader is instantly transported into the real scene Ellison wants his reader to notice. Of course, the genius of all this is Ellison's use of the word "mastered" instead of "trained," as that one word becomes the window through which we begin to see the ritual of the circus as having the potential to speak to us about the deeper convention of race.

And that is Ellison par excellent, for he is always using unrelated events to talk about other things.

There are so many things that can and should be said about Juneteenth that I could never exhaust the subject. Not that I am trying to, but one thing is for sure, those who have an intimate knowledge of Shadow and Act, and Going To The Territory and of course Invisible Man will see the influence of those books on Juneteenth. In scene after scene, Ellison calls up his references like a bandleader calls on the Brass section to riff on the beat, to live in the music, and Ellison, in Juneteeth, is more than anything else, living inside himself, inside the basement of Invisible Man, inside all of the history of literature and once in a while he peeks out at us, peeks as from a glass darkly to see if it okay to come out and play.

Juneteenth.......2005-08-26

A little known book. This could be the American novel that transends time and place. The characters and descriptions are of the depth that is rarely described in modern literature.

Great American Novel.......2004-12-12

This could well be the great American Novel that was anticipated. The ideas are powerful and cross racial bounderies. Ellison is a master and re-creates moods with skill. He glorifies the commonplace.

Brilliantly Disappointing.......2004-04-15

Although Ralph Ellison's prose is masterfully, I found the body of work within Juneteenth to be disjointed and nonlinear in scope. Perhaps in someways it parallels Joyce's Ulysses, but falls woefully short of the mark.

Not Finished, but Neither Is the Fight Against Racism.......2002-07-22

Much of the attention surrounding this posthumously compiled and titled novel Juneteenth, has focused on it's unfinished nature. True, in many spots the prose is difficult and plot trasitions are hard to follow. However, Ellison's mastery of the language and his awareness of race relations in the US, make this novel, though unfinished, a poignant follow up to Invisible Man. Ellison, via Callhoun's splicing, delves into the possibilities for equality among races, and the hope that one day we might all, black and white, be led out of the bonds of slavery and into a glorious promised land. Unfortunately, in Ellisons rendering, that Moses is sick and dying, and desperately in need of remembering who he is and where he came from. The end of the novel, although it may be abrupt and full of more questions than answers, might actually be closer to the truth than Ellison might have hoped to achieve. It leaves us as readers to ponder who we are and what we think the outcome might be (infact the last of his notes suggests this kind of relationship of this novel to his redaers). Is racisim truly an eternal bond that we shall never be free of? As in the novel, the answer is up to you.

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Another Awesome Book!!
Well Worth Your Time
She perfectly brings the past back to life, including all of the hardships and challenges

Come Juneteenth (Great Episodes)
Ann Rinaldi
Manufacturer: Harcourt Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0152059474

Book Description

Sis Goose is a beloved member of Luli's family, despite the fact that she was born a slave. But the family is harboring a terrible secret. And when Union soldiers arrive on their Texas plantation to announce that slaves have been declared free for nearly two years, Sis Goose is horrified to learn that the people she called family have lied to her for so long. She runs away--but her newly found freedom has tragic consequences.

How could the state of Texas keep the news of the Emancipation Proclamation from reaching slaves? In this riveting Great Episodes historical drama, Ann Rinaldi sheds light on the events that led to the creation of Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom that continues today.

Includes an author's note.

Customer Reviews:

Another Awesome Book!!.......2007-10-03

Ann Rinaldi is my favorite Author. Come Juneteenth is a great book like every other she has written. I can't wait for her next book to come out. You have to read this book!!!

Well Worth Your Time.......2007-08-20

What would you do if you knew something important, but potentially devastating, about a close family member? What if you were sworn to secrecy about it, but you felt as though you were betraying someone you love? Would you tell or would you do as you were told? Such is the decision facing 13 year old Luli Holcomb when she learns that the slaves held on her family's ranch have indeed been set free almost two years earlier, though the Civil War itself wasn't quite at an end. Her "sister", Sis Goose, raised as one of the family and treated as a dearly cherished daughter, is in fact a free person of color, even though she's always had the benefits and privileges of being free. Luli is pressed into keeping the secret by her family so that the other slaves on the ranch won't leave, but she's not comfortable with it, especially after her older brother Gabe finds himself in love with Sis Goose and begins a relationship with her. Who holds Luli's loyalty?

Rinaldi has taken Juneteenth, the "official" date in June 1865 when Texas slaves were told they were free, and built an interesting story around it. As with most things in life, there weren't cut and dried solutions, and Sis Goose's reaction to her "family's" decision to keep her in the dark brings about changes she could not have foreseen. Told from Luli's point of view, we see her placed between a rock and a hard place, loving and missing the sister she's always known and yet understanding the heartbroken anger Sis Goose unleashes. Luli must make hard choices herself as she sees her father dying and the Yankees settle into her once grand home. The twist at the end is truly shocking, and Rinaldi does a fine job of reeling the reader into this web of lies.

This is a truly intriguing book, so much more than straight historical fiction. The biggest problem I had with it is the "luck" factor; at times things seemed to happen a little too conveniently, especially as Gabe and Luli track down the missing Sis Goose. And while I understood the nickname given to Sis Goose, I never liked it and found it distracting, as though it was almost a deliberate reminder that this vibrant young woman really was a slave. I also questioned Luli's recovery after the devastation that came; I just don't think it was played out realistically. However, Rinaldi's story and the characters themselves redeem any minor problems I have with this fine novel, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone of any age who enjoys excellent historical fiction.

She perfectly brings the past back to life, including all of the hardships and challenges.......2007-06-01

Thirteen-year-old Luli Holcomb has lived her entire life on the family ranch in Texas. With her father weak from illness and her mother busy helping to run the ranch, Luli's older brother, Gabe, takes charge of her. But he doesn't teach her the ways of a proper southern belle. Instead, Gabe instructs her how to shoot guns, ride and care for horses, and survive in the Texas wilderness.

The other influential person in Luli's life is Sis Goose. Sis Goose's enslaved mother dies right after giving birth, and her white riverboat father is completely uninterested. He immediately gives her to Luli's aunt, who in turn hands her over to Luli's mom. Three years older and unofficially adopted into the family as a baby, Sis Goose and Luli are best friends and sisters. Though legally a slave and belonging to Luli's aunt, Sis Goose is considered family; she goes with them to parties and balls, and shares a bedroom and an education right alongside Luli.

Being in Texas and so far away from the other states, the Civil War seems a million miles away, yet the Holcomb family still feels the effects. Blockades force them to do without coffee and silk dresses, and Gabe enlists in the Confederacy --- though his job is to fight the nearby Native Americans, not the Union soldiers. And then one day a fellow arrives announcing that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation has set the slaves free. But the entire Holcomb family rebukes it as just a false rumor, despite knowing the contrary. On orders of her parents and Gabe, Luli must lie to her best friend and sister.

When asked why, Luli is told that all Texas ranchers are keeping the secret. If the slaves knew the truth, then the crops would never be harvested, not to mention they would stage a bloody uprising and many people would die. So Luli hides the truth even though it burns inside of her. She knows that eventually the facts will emerge and wonders if Sis Goose will ever forgive her. And then one day, in June 1865, the Union soldiers arrive at their ranch, and the truth is finally revealed.

Ann Rinaldi has vast experience in writing historical novels, and her incredible talent shines through once again. She perfectly brings the past back to life, including all of the hardships and challenges, the joy and the sorrow. Readers will be drawn into the story, quickly caring about the realistic characters and the impossible situations they must wade through. COME JUNETEENTH is a wonderful read for everyone!

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman

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Extremely worthwhile!
The Way it Really Was
Intense and honest
Freedom's Daughters:The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights
An Overdue Praise of Black Female Freedom Fighters

Freedom's Daughters: A Juneteenth Story
Lynne Olson
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684850125

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Although men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael grabbed the headlines, women provided not just the backbone but frequently the leadership of the civil rights movement, this punchy popular history reminds us. And not just during the 1950s and '60s: Ida Mae Wells spearheaded an international anti-lynching campaign in 1892, Mary White Ovington helped launch the NAACP in 1909, and Pauli Murray led the first sit-in in 1944. The civil rights and feminist movements have been intertwined since the 19th century, notes Lynne Olson, who doesn't flinch from describing the ways in which sex has been used as a weapon to define and divide black and white women. Olson, coauthor of The Murrow Boys, again displays a marvelous knack for knitting sharp individual portraits into a cohesive group biography within a lively, accessible narrative. She makes it clear that women like Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, and Ida Mae Holland were not mere foot soldiers for male generals. Parks's record of civil rights work dated to the 1940s, long before she sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. The 22-year-old Nash revitalized the Freedom Rides after male colleagues nearly abandoned them in the wake of white violence. Holland transformed herself from an 18-year-old prostitute into a determined activist inspired by the older women she called "mamas" who could be seen on the front lines of every march, singing and testifying. Ella Baker, Jo Ann Robinson, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer are among the other neglected figures who finally get their due in Olson's moving tribute. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

The first comprehensive history of the role of women in the civil rights movement, Freedom's Daughters fills a startling gap in both the literature of civil rights and of women's history.

Stokely Carmichael, Andrew Young, John Lewis, and other well-known leaders of the civil rights movement have admitted that women often had the ideas for which men took credit. In this groundbreaking book, credit finally goes where credit is due -- to the bold women who were crucial to the movement's success and who refused to give up the fight. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the lunch counter sit-ins to the Freedom Rides, Lynne Olson's Freedom's Daughters offers a remarkable corrective to the standard history as she tells the long overlooked story of the extraordinary women, both black and white, who were among the most fearless, resourceful, and tenacious leaders of the civil rights movement.

Reminding us that the story of women fighting for civil rights began much earlier than the 1950s and 1960s, Olson puts the formal civil rights movement into the context of a much larger history of women's activism. From the abolitionist and suffragist movements to women's liberation, Olson proves that the political activity of women has been the thread connecting the big reform movements from the 1830s to 1970.

Into this context, then, she introduces portraits and cameos of more than sixty women -- many until now forgotten and some never before written about -- from the key figures (Pauli Murray, Ida Wells, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Baker, and Septima Clark, among others) whose activism spanned several different movements and decades to some of the smaller players who represent the hundreds and hundreds of women who each came forth to do her own small part and who together ultimately formed the mass movements that made the difference. As one male activist said of the movement in Mississippi: "It was a woman's war."

This is the story of women making difficult choices, trying to balance lives as wives and mothers with their all-consuming work, defying society's standards of proper female behavior. It's the story of indomitable black women like Diane Nash who refused to give up the civil rights fight, even as the formal movement collapsed, and of white female civil rights activists mourning the loss of their old movement while helping to launch a new one -- the battle for women's rights.

Freedom's Daughters puts a human face on the civil rights struggle -- and shows that that face was often female.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely worthwhile!.......2005-09-09

So much was happening and so many strong women (and girls!) were working so hard for humane treatment while I was a youngster thousands of miles away. The least I can do in their honor is to tell others to read this book and learn!

The Way it Really Was.......2002-02-28

It seems the anatomy of revolutions is that they metamorphose and become tarnished, and the civil rights movement of the 60s (the Revolution, Baby! as we called it then) was no exception. With history, they become glamorized and give rise to fantasized, self-appointed heroes and revisionism. This book is TRUTH without TARNISH, and sets straight the record devised by many during the past three decades of revisionism. From one who was really there, in Philadelphia Mississippi in early 60's, in again in 64-66, and during FBI investigations, I want to say: FINALLY, someone is telling it like it really was, without revisionism, without glorification of the johnnies who came lately, and without interest in creating a politically correct and marketable commodity. I knew many of the players Ms. Olsen seeks out and interviews, and I take great pride in hearing their story in the unadultuated truth. I also feel such gratification in learning how many of them went on, led lives, continued their educations, raised families and managed to put their disillusionments behind them. It's a source of healing for me, and now I too can perhaps say, at least I thought I was "doing something really important" -- a paraphrase from Diane Nash. I have tried so hard to forget the good times, because the years since have seen the initial dream tarnished and all but destroyed. Now, perhaps, I too can find some pride in what I helped to start, even though now it's clear, the civil rights movement didn't exactly end up the way those who started it intended it. My only regret is some of the truly brave, white women who stood up for their sisters, did not get more time from Ms. Olsen. One of the great heroes was Ms. Florence Mars -- probably the only woman in Neshoba County with a college education at the time -- and but a slight reference in Olsen's book. Her courage was most notable because she was of the white, wealthy elite who had everything to loose and nothing to gain by helping the Freedom Riders and using her own voice to influence. She could have spent her entire life living in her glorious Southern Revivalist house on Poplar Avenue, run her family's lumber business and never taken a chance, or lifted a finger to help. It is not risktaking, it is easy to participate, when one has nothing to loose, risk and can only gain. Ms. Mars didn't have to get involved at all. And, yet, she did -- for as she told Time Magazine when Missippi Burning (alas, revisionism at it's worst!) was filmed and released "it was the right thing to do." I want to go back to Philadelphia and see is Ms. Mars is still alive. She must be 80 now! Did she ever recover from her stroke -- I want to thank her for the greatest of kindness she showed me once in 66. And I want to tell her that I've come to realize that while there were many evil white people in the Southern heirarchy, there were many, many other good white people like her, good white women, and even good white men. People like Judge and Mrs. (Helen Patton) J. Skelley Wright. Thanks to Ms. Olson, for opening up this pandora's box of provocative, truthful thought. Maybe it will start a dialog about the way it really was.

Intense and honest.......2001-08-11

This book fills a huge hole in civil rights history literature. Anyone involved in that struggle and other similiar type movements know the huge amount of grunt work that goes into a simple picket line. This work that the men scorned was the backbone of the movement and continues to this day. It shines a light on influential women in civil rights and goes into a their history and struggles. Many of these women have been mentioned in other books but that is all that is done - barely mentioned. In addition, Ms. Olson explores in an extremely honest way the relations between white women and black women and black men. These pages were some of the best writing I ever read on this topic.

Freedom's Daughters:The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights.......2001-07-28

I picked up this book because of the title, having read Taylor Branch's two books on Martin Luther King, Jr., and having grown up in the sixties when the media was making much of the marches and non-violent protests that characterized the Civil Rights Movement. I was initially put off by the book from the outset. The very opening words give the date as April 22, 1944, and continues in the first paragraph to talk about the Marines taking bloody Iwo Jima. Unfortunately the assault on Iwo Jima didn't occur until February, 1945, nearly a year later. I found it odd that both the author, who appears skilled at historical research, or an editor, adept at making sure items in a nonfiction book are accurate, would have missed such a blatant historical error! It made me initially wonder at the veracity of subsequent facts.

I, however, continued in my reading and came to truly appreciate the depth of fervor exhibited by the women who put their lives, their families, their reputations and their beliefs on the line for the principles of equality... something that those who are not African-American far too often take for granted! I appreciated the truth of how often women have been the planners and motivators of such great causes.

The book itself seemed a bit "tangled" as Lynne Olson tried to share the stories of many women, often interweaving the story of one woman with another. It left me having to back up and get a handle on who she was describing.

All in all, though, the book seems a good resource adding depth to the history of the Civil Rights Movement which has all too often been simply a biography of the Movement's icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is portrayed in the media as the single force behind the Civil Rights protest. Any thinking person would know that this is not true. His charisma and ability to inspire people was a much-needed element. But without the gifts and talents of the women described in Lynne Olson's book, it may have come to naught.

An Overdue Praise of Black Female Freedom Fighters.......2001-05-08

This text offers a somewhat rare look at Black women that have valiantly struggled for African American Civil and Human Rights throughout our history in America. I was, however, taken aback when I read the editorial review by Wendy Smith who erroneously cited anti-lynching activist and journalist IDA B. WELLS as "Ida Mae Wells"; when such an error is made by a reviewer, you realize just how underexamined the women in this book are. This nearly comprehensive offering is long overdue. This is history that reads like a novel.

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Beyond Romance
The Last Witness From a Dirt Road
A touching story
Review by C. Arnouville
"Coming of Age"

The Last Witness From a Dirt Road
Bill Hunt
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419618830
Release Date: 2005-12-20

Book Description

A moving coming-of-age story, written, possibly by one of the last of Southerners to grow up on a working sugar plantation in rural Louisiana. Told through the eyes and voice of the son of the white overseer, this is a unique portrait of a time and place on the cusp of dramatic change.

Customer Reviews:

Beyond Romance.......2007-10-01

In the American South after the Civil War -- so scarred as the culture was by fire and defeat -- it was two generations beyond Reconstruction before storytellers and writers managed to attain any objective distance from the events of seventy years previous. However, romantic notions of a glorious past had already spread, telling of a glorious place now "gone with the wind." There are no traces of that glorious South because it never existed -- but the romance of it persists, waving to this day atop more than one southern statehouse.

Mr. Hunt, on the other hand, ignores none of the uncomfortable truths of the past. Not that his book is without sentimental remembrance -- it certainly has plenty, and thank goodness. But hunt does not betray those precious remembrances by illustrating them for his readers through the gauzy web of selfish rationalizations. To be sure, Mr. Hunt has written a beautiful book -- not in spite of the truth because the ugly truths are here, too. Without them, the deception of their omission would ruin the book's ability to transform the pain into the possibility of redemption.

The Last Witness From a Dirt Road.......2006-08-09

The first chapter immediately had my attention due to a scene where you realize a journey to adulthood for a young boy is about to begin. I laughed, cried, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about an era that is now past, but not totally forgotten. It was enjoyable to read about an era where life was physically harder than today's world, but less stressful. An era where people generally helped each other, cared for each other, and knew the meaning of family. I would greatly enjoy reading more works from the author.

A touching story.......2006-08-08

"The Last Witness From A Dirt Road" is a wonderful read - heartfelt, warm, and thoughtful. Full of funny scenes and conversations, poignant descriptions of people and places, and touching portraits of the friends who filled his childhood, it is a true, complete, fulfilling tale of growth, with all its joys and pains. The book conveys with honesty and sensitivity the confusing emotional and intellectual chasm of growing up between the races in the southern United States in the mid-twentieth century. Sadly, the black and white worlds Mr. Hunt describes can't blend any more than allowed by the vision of a child's affectionate and colorblind eyes. Nonethteless, Mr. Hunt manages to capture a very real and tangible love between people; he is a solid storyteller and a talented dialogist who has given us a sweet, memorable tale. Months from reading it, I still carry the images with me - and some laughter, too.

Review by C. Arnouville.......2006-07-23

Through the eyes of a child, Bill Hunt allows his readers to relive the year 1946 on a southern plantation. Mr. Hunt's description of life on the plantation is not only informational but amusing as well. Several times I found myself laughing out loud at some of the situations in which he found himself. Besides being a book that supplies the reader with history of the time, the author also expresses feelings,that we can all relate to, as life around him changes. Also, being from the same parish in Louisiana as the book's setting, I found myself able to relate to many things Mr. Hunt wrote of. This book is a book you will not want to put down and also one you will not want to finish. We should all be able to express our cherished memories as well as Bill Hunt has.

"Coming of Age".......2006-06-22

What a great "coming of age" story! We all have childhood memories and experiences, but not all of us can share the tales as well as Bill Hunt does in this book. A great read, and a valuable history lesson!

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U.S. History Re-Explained

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom
Charles A. Taylor
Manufacturer: Open Hand Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940880687

Book Description

'JUNETEENTH: A Celebration of Freedom' effectively conveys the jubilation that occurred on June 19, 1865 when African American people in Texas were the last to be freed from the horrors of U.S. slavery, a full two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. Taylor's 32-page book, full of colorful illustrations, archival photographs, and historical documents, makes the information about Juneteenth accessible for readers aged ten and up.

Juneteenth is the oldest African American celebration in the United States and is quickly becoming one of the most popular holidays observed by Black Americans. Seven states (TX, OK, FL, DE, AK, ID, and IA) have already made Juneteenth a holiday--with more to come.

Customer Reviews:

U.S. History Re-Explained.......2002-07-02

There are many books on Juneteenth, but none so informative and accessible for both kids and adults as this one. Learn why the Emancipation Proclamation did not free any slaves and other things not often taught in school. Great book for anyone interested in United States history. Very colorful.

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Juneteenth
Muriel Miller Branch
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0525652221

Book Description

Juneteenth is the grandfather of all holidays for Black Texans From its spontaneous beginning on June 19, 1865, as slaves in Galveston, Texas, reacted to the delayed news of the Emancipation Proclamation, the holiday has spread nationwide among Black Americans. It is small gatherings on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, to immense crowds in Buffalo, New York. This ethnic holiday includes the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, retelling of legends about how it got its name, parades, parties, and family reunions. Join the author and photographer as they traveled to experience this celebration of freedom in various spots around the United States.

Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom in Texas

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A fun-filled glimpse into the past

Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom in Texas
Anna Pearl Barrett
Manufacturer: Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

A fun-filled glimpse into the past.......1999-05-08

A delightful story that explains that significance of Juneteenth from a child's perspective. The inquisitive nature and humor of the juvenile characters helps maintain an interesting storyline without sounding preachy. Kids will also enjoy the dialect and songs of the past. The addendum provides a glimpse of the author's unique heritage and chronicles an important era in African-American history. A chapter book treasure.

Average customer rating:

Superb!

Juneteenth Jamboree
Carole Boston Weatherford
Manufacturer: Lee & Low Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1880000180

Customer Reviews:

Superb!.......2000-01-08

This book does a fantastic job of introducing American children to a significant moment in the history of Black Americans in this country. The illustrations are beautiful.

Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started

Average customer rating:

I learned so much -- such a rich history

Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started
Izola Ethel Fedford Collins
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Book Description

On this island called Galveston, Texas, African-Americans have a unique position in the history of the world. Natives of this city, and incoming residents, who were people of color, were the pioneers of much of the civilization that occurred in this part of the world. "Juneteenth" has become a term used by persons all over the nation who recognize the validity of the term now synonymous with freedom of the former black-skinned slaves. This term comes from the fact that, in Galveston, Texas, General Granger arrived by ship with orders that were read to the public at Ashton Villa on June 19, 1865. He actually arrived in the harbor on June 17, 1865, and the news leaked out from the deckhands on that date. But the dates are both worthy of the title "Juneteenth", which is the way the former slaves passed down the news to their progeny. This news came from the official document called the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a law signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, and sent to the southern states involved in the Confederacy. So Texas was the first of these states to receive this law, and Galveston was the entry port, and therefore had the distinction of being the first place to embrace the freedom of persons of color in the southern part of the new United States of America. There were free men and women of color in Galveston before this announcement was made, so the progress of the city toward racial harmony was already underway. Pioneers of all kinds of institutions and businesses came from Galveston. It is no accident that Galveston has been a city of "firsts". The titles of "first" have been proven for the state of Texas, because these were recorded and documented in many journals and publications. Some visionaries of African descent have been recorded by name, but since the freed persons of color usually could not read or write (they were forbidden to learn to read or write in slavery), there is little written from their perspective. It is the purpose of this book to reveal what was written by a man of color, my grandfather, who came to Galveston with his family as a small child, immediately after freedom was declared. His words are proven to be true by later documentation of official sources in the city. In addition, recorded words of interviews with numbers of citizens who were alive when this book was begun have been used and preserved on audio tapes. Quite a number of persons who contributed to this book were African-Americans who were imported to Galveston for the sole purpose of educating its segregated citizens in their churches and schools. Until now, this story, told from the perspective of the persons who lived it, has been untold. Because of its far-reaching effects in the whole world, this story fairly screams to be acknowledged and revealed. It is with great excitement that I bid you to indulge yourself in the luxury of discovery!

Customer Reviews:

I learned so much -- such a rich history.......2004-09-19

This book opens up a window to the past. It outlines the roots of Juneteenth, explaining how the African American holiday began, and it's a celebration of so much more -- the social, academic, and spiritual heritage of a people, and their mark on the world. The photos and personal recollections of community members give this book a place and time, sharing the life and times unknown to many of today's readers, particularly younger African Americans -- as, say, an older relative might sitting next to you on the couch, turning the pages of a photo album and sharing dear memories.
This book invites you to come sit down -- it's a story for you.

Average customer rating:

Celebremos Juneteenth
Carole Boston Weatherford
Manufacturer: Lee & Low Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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