The musicians in the grainy old photo wear suit jackets and somber expressions. They hold instruments; fiddle, bass, drum and more. The place is East Austin. The year is 1900. The day is Juneteenth.
In fact, this is the first photograph known to have ever been taken at a Juneteenth, the annual celebration of the historic moment in time when the news of emancipation and freedom arrived to enslaved people in Texas -- two years delayed. The musicians stand in nature, in a clearing among the cedar elm and bur oak native to northeast Texas. If you use your mind’s eye, you can imagine that there is a pretty little pond across the wet meadow. People are singing, dancing, laughing, rejoicing. The sky is clear blue.
Freedom must have felt better outdoors because that is the first place newly-freed African-Americans went when they heard the news from General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. By the year 1900, families in East Austin and other places all over Texas had pooled their resources and purchased their own land so that racism and discrimination could never interfere with their emancipation celebrations.
June 19th will mark the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, and it’s no coincidence that communities all over the country are placing renewed emphasis on Juneteenth’s green roots -- outdoor-centered, locally-grown, and nature-focused. It’s part of a still-burgeoning Black/Green movement: National groups like Outdoor Afro have helped communities of color connect and re-connect with nature and outdoor activities and agencies like the National Park Service have sponsored “Get Outdoors” events in the tradition of Juneteenth.
In Colorado, the NAACP State Conference, Sierra Club, Conservation Colorado, Food & Water Watch and other groups have collaborated to educate communities on critical climate justice issues like coal-fired plants, clean air policy, net metering, STEM careers and fracking. NAACP and Sierra Club have led reflective Healing Hikes that focused on finding strength following the police shootings of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Jessie Hernandez in Denver. And, the two groups are joining again to co-sponsor the Juneteenth Music Festival Green Zone in Denver's Five Points.
The Green Zone will feature locally grown produce via co-sponsor Mo' Betta Greens, a green Open Mike, and standing comment boards so Juneteenth attendees can reflect on past, present and future relationships with nature. During American slavery, experts note, the relationship of African-Americans to nature and the outdoors was key to survival. Books such as “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of the Great Migration,” remind us how common it was for Black people to be the experts at hiking, fishing, and farming in the days before Northern migration. We all can celebrate this rich history by connecting across race and culture in Colorado’s outdoors.
Governor Hickenlooper recently announced a plan that would ensure there is a park, trail or open space situated not more than 10 minutes walk from every home in Colorado. The Governor’s Colorado Beautiful Initiative is another acknowledgement that outdoor spaces should not only reflect the diversity of our communities -- they must be accessible to all communities, as well.
As we celebrate Juneteenth, these ideas must be lifted again and again so that the history of diversity and inclusion in nature is not only remembered, but leveraged for a world sorely in need of some peace and quiet in the great outdoors.