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PAUL:

The Juneteenth holiday, June 19th, is the federal holiday that celebrates the freedom of enslaved people after the Civil War. But really, it's about so much more than that.

Hey, it's Paul Wolf for the front-row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul shine. On today's episode, Two Mississippi Museums’ Executive Director Michael Morris joins us to share a look at Juneteenth. And Michael helps to tie in this holiday to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

Michael, I kind of wanted to start off from a historical perspective, just for folks who say, you know, what is the big deal about? I keep hearing Juneteenth. What's the big deal about Juneteenth? This is a really important holiday, a federal holiday for the African American and Black community. It should be important to all of us, but tell me the significance and why it is important to those communities.

MICHAEL:

Sure, what Juneteenth is about is essentially on June the 19th, 1865 is when news of emancipation made its way to Galveston, Texas. And so we celebrate that date because that date is so prominent in American history. But what we're really celebrating on that day is this notion of emancipation. And so starting with the first shot at the Civil War, there are African Americans that are fleeing their plantations and seeking freedom.

And then especially here in Mississippi, you know, there were different spots in Mississippi that were already occupied by the Union army as early as 1863. So, for example, Natchez was occupied from 1863 all the way to 1865. And during that time, a lot of African Americans are experiencing freedom for the first time. And so in a way, this is a way for us to mark all of these different kinds of emancipations. But we choose to do it on this particular day just because it's gained so much national attention through the years. And a lot of African Americans have really found a lot of silence and celebrating on this day.

PAUL:

It's an Independence Day, right?

MICHAEL:

It is, absolutely. It's another Independence Day. That's a good way to put it.

PAUL:

Yeah, and the federal government finally recognized this holiday. I guess it's been a couple of years ago. Maybe this is the third remembrance of Juneteenth officially. What's the significance of that, of it being recognized on a national level?

MICHAEL:

Yes, so for years and years and years and years and years, almost as early as one year after, you know, that news made its way to Galveston, Texas, there were examples of Black Americans celebrating Juneteenth. And so I can remember growing up in my community here in Jackson, attending Juneteenth celebrations. And for us, at least for me, it really is a sense of affirmation from our federal government that this is an important date in American history.

And that this notion of emancipation is something that we need to celebrate and that we need to be reminded of every year.

PAUL:

And it's not just a Black holiday, an African American holiday. We all can learn from this story. And what is it they say about history? We learn from our past so our mistakes don't repeat themselves.

MICHAEL:

Absolutely. I mean, what's important to note in terms of the way that I think about it is, you know, right after emancipation, right after the Civil War. We have our first experiment in trying to have a multiracial democracy in this country. And I think that's something that we're still striving towards to this day. And so yeah, anniversaries like Juneteenth are an opportunity for us to celebrate what happened in the past, but also to kind of reflect on the ways in which we can build a more prosperous future as well.

PAUL:

And you being the director of the Two Mississippi Museums, specifically today talking about the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, I mean, that story, that history, we can learn that when we walk through those doors and we see the struggles, especially here in Mississippi. What does the Civil Rights Museum have to teach us about Juneteenth?

MICHAEL:

Our Civil Rights Museum, I'm thinking particularly about our first gallery, it's called Mississippi Freedom Struggle. And it's a synopsis of the African American experience from 1619 to just after the Civil War. And what I think is so significant about that particular gallery in terms of what we're talking about, kind of goes back to this notion of emancipation. And so it talks about some of the slave revolts that took place when the first African ships were first brought to this country. And just examples of Africans breaking the tools on plantations and trying to find ways to escape to their freedom. And just example after example, all the way up through the Civil War, which as you know, 17,000 black Mississippians chose to join the Union Army and help the Union Army achieve victory. And so their first gallery, I think is a really good place for folks to get an opportunity to kind of visit and kind of rewire some of this issue we're talking about.

PAUL:

You know, I've gone through the galleries and every time I see Hezekiah Watkins tell his Freedom Rider story or hear that story, I choke up every single time and he puts his arm around me and he says, “but it's better now.” Is it better for Black Mississippians?

MICHAEL:

I think if we compare today with what you see in gallery one of our civil rights museum, there's no question that we've made a lot of progress. And even from the 1960s to today, we've definitely made a lot of progress in terms of having access to the ballot. And so one of the things that you learn when you go to gallery eight of our civil rights museum is that Mississippi has one of the highest percentage of Black elected officials in the country. That's something to brag about. That's something to be proud of.

Another thing that we do in gallery eight, we ask the question, where do we go from here? Because once you learn about all of this information or once you kind of get in a chance to review some of these stories that you may have already heard before, we put the onus on you. We really do want every visitor to be empowered, to be decision makers in times of the future of their communities and in times of the future of our state and definitely in times of the future of our country. And so I think that's one of the things that we want to leave in every visitor's heads is this idea that you are an actor in the story that's been made, in the history that's been made.

PAUL:

Michael, you've heard this; I have too. When people think about coming to Mississippi and it's usually when they get here, their idea has changed. But before they come here, they say ‘Mississippi, why would I want to go there? They're this, they're that;’ they're judging us by a past that existed pretty prolifically then. What do you say to that person to entice them to come and experience all that Mississippi has to offer?

MICHAEL:

Sure. I think one of the things that I'd say is if you enjoy the democracy that we have in this country, you need to make a visit to Mississippi to kind of understand how we got the democracy that we have today. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. You know, there were people that were murdered, but there were also some tactics and strategies that took place in this state in the 1960s and some efforts that really did lead to the evolution of our country, to the progress that we talked about. And in fact, this year, we're commemorating the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer. Again, that's, if you know anything about Freedom Summer, you know that that's a time where thousands of students came to Mississippi and helped to reach the Black voters and start freedom schools, a really, really historic event in times of America history. And so we've got a slogan across the department that, if you want to understand America, you need to come to a place like Mississippi and you need to visit the places where the history happened. And so the museums, to me, are just a good first stop before you go to let's say the Forks of the Road down in Natchez or before you go to see the Freedom Trail Market or the Woolworths sit in (site) right there on Capitol Street. The museums are a good place to kind of firm your understanding of our past, but then we want to send you out to the places where the history happened.

PAUL:

Michael, I know that Juneteenth this year begins this weekend with celebrations in places across the city. And then Juneteenth itself is on June 19th. It's a Wednesday this year. Celebrations will happen the weekend after. So we've kind of got things spread out a bit, but at the Two Mississippi Museums, you all will celebrate on June 19th. Can you tell me about what's going on?

MICHAEL:

Yeah, absolutely. So starting at about 4 pm, we want to give folks a chance to get off work and pick the kids up and come by the museums. And we're just going to have a lot of different activities for folks to engage in family friendly activities, games, live music. And then what we really want it to be is a place where people can gather and just have conversations about what this day means to them.

That's Michael Morris from the Two Mississippi Museums. With Juneteenth falling midweek this year, you'll find activities and events bookending over two weekends and on the day. Find more in our show notes at visitjackson.com/soulsessions.

Soul Sessions is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus, and Dr. Ricky Thigpen. And I'm our managing editor. You want to know more about the great work that we do to make Jackson a better place? You can find it at visitjackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf. You've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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