New Juneteenth Handbook Facebook Group

I have created a new Juneteenth Handbook Facebook Group page and you are invited to join with me and others to discuss and share information about the Juneteenth Day Celebration and its history. The New Facebook Group is looking for members willing to share their Juneteenth knowledge and Juneteenth stories to build a knowledge base about Juneteenth and the way different people celebrate the oldest African American celebration in the U.S.

Back when I worked at Stanford University at SLAC (the Stanford Linear Acceleration Center) I was part of an organization that set up the Juneteenth Day Celebration each year. Of my over 35 plus years at SLAC, there was a time when I first became aware of the Juneteenth Day Celebration and that resulted in my participating in the celebration the last 10 years of my employment SLAC. There were bands, T-Shirts, good food, friendly people and almost always someone there who was learning about the Juneteenth Day Celebration for the first time the way I did 10 years earlier.

The job I had at the television station where I first heard all the details behind Juneteenth, didn't celebrate Juneteenth. The thing that stuck with me when I did first become aware of what the word Juneteenth meant was that Juneteenth is "the Oldest African American Celebration in the United States." I remember thinking how could I not know about the oldest "African American" celebration around? History was one of my favorite subjects when I was in school so I found it highly unlikely that I had read over that important fact and not filed it away in my memory bank.

In the end, and after a little research, on my part, it turned out to be a relief realizing that I had not read past an important black history fact. The oldest African American Celebration in this country (the U.S.) truly had never appeared in any of the history textbooks I had studied in. Like I tell most of my friends my knowledge is history especially as it relates to slavery came from the years BC (before cable). The Internet is a great source of information nowadays but since not all the information I have come across that relates to Juneteenth and slavery has been reliable it helps to have more than one source of information about a Juneteenth/slavery question.

If you have anything you would like to share about the Juneteenth Day celebration, like how that day is celebrated where you are, or how you first became aware of the Juneteenth Day celebration please feel free to share that information to this new Facebook Group.