LEIMERT PARK
&
JUNETEENTH
HISTORY
A GLIMPSE OF JUNETEENTH
1800 2023
Dive into a Journey
Through our History
JUNETEENTH
/ˌjo͞onˈtēnTH/
(NOUN) A holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.
From its inception, Texas was a slave state, and California, though “free” also experienced, in the words of one historian,“a remarkable continuance of slavery” until the end of the Civil War. Evidence of slavery in California abounds; in newspaper ads for slave auctions, manumission documents in court records, testimonies by anti-slavery activists, and newspaper stories covering plaintiffs suing for freedom.
Slaveholders and their supporters, like California’s first governor, Peter Burnett, wielded power in and through the state’s public institutions, from the legislature, to the courts, and schools. John Carr, who arrived in 1850, observed in his memoir Pioneer Days in California, that “From 1849 to 1861, the State of California was…as intensely Southern as Mississippi or any of the other fire-eating States.”
- CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.ORG
1830
REVOLUTION
From Texas to California: “The history of Texas is tied inextricably with California. Both states were born out of the politics of slavery.
California was admitted to the Union as part of Congress’ Compromise of 1850 – a continuation of the doomed effort to balance political interests of pro-slavery members and those opposed to the expansion of slavery. As a result of the Compromise, California was allowed to be a “free” state. Texas remained a slave state and relinquished land in exchange for payment of its debt.
1850
REVOLUTION
Every year since June 19th, 1865, the Black community has come together in the spirit of freedom. A sense of freedom that still prevails despite systemic threats to its existence.
40 years ago Jonathan Leonard began the tradition of Juneteenth in Leimert Park Village.Since then it has continued to be celebrated in varying ways.
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1870
REVOLUTION
On Juneteenth 2018, a group of dedicated creatives came together to put together and host the first ever Leimert Park Rising:Juneteenth Festival.
True to the essence of Leimert Park, this event is celebrated Black freedom by honoring the ancestors and our community through art, music, food and education. We are still rising.