Lawton's Juneteenth Celebration This Saturday

Lawton, Oklahoma (June 19, 2010)

Juneteenth is a holiday with an amazing and surprising history. What is Juneteenth?

This year’s event takes place on June 19, a Saturday. At 4:00 p.m., a program and celebration march will occur at the Buffalo Soldier Monument, located at Second and Gore Boulevard. Then from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Patterson Community Center, located at #4 NE Arlington, people will be able to enjoy food, music, games, and other activities.

Specific games and activities are held for children. The committee invites historians, storytellers, and poets, who all share history about events relating to African-American culture in Oklahoma and the events surrounding the Civil War and Juneteenth.

Food and music will also be plentiful. Local musicians will provide live music. Jazz and Rhythm & Blues will be two musical styles featured. Food will be cooking in abundance. About forty cases of ribs and one hundred pounds of brisket will be cooked and consumed. All food and drink was either donated or purchased with donated money. According to organizer Albert Johnson, Sr., about 1,500 to 2,000 people contribute money for the event.

Wallace Moore, a cowboy poet and historian of Oklahoman history, regularly adds to the Juneteenth celebration by reciting poems and speaking about the history surrounding Oklahoma during the Civil War period. Unfortunately, Moore is unable to attend this year’s event because he will be out of town. Prior to last year’s event, Moore wrote a poem titled, “De End of De Row.” He read it for Juneteenth and received lots of compliments for the poem and his reading of it.

Here is the full poem:

De End of De Row

I was born a slave, down in Texas. Seems like it was yesterday, but if the truth be known, it was a long time ago.

My Mammy and me was owned by a man what had a big cotton Plantation. Some of de biggest cotton fields that I ever did see. I use to say to Mammy, “How is we ever goner make all de way down younder to de end of de row.

Us slaves had it mighty hard in dem days, working from sun up till sun down. Our lives were controlled by the crack of de whipe. We had to jump ever time we heared de horn blow.

We was always busy, plowing, planting, chopping or picking de masters cotton. It don’t matter how hard we work, we can’t to seem to make it to de end of de roe.

Then comes de big war. You know, the one between de states. I guess you don heared about that. Mr. Lincon, he up and freeded all us slaves. Says that we could just get all out things and go.

It took almost a year before we got de word down here in Texas. I will never forget, it was de 19^th of June. I was standing knee deep in ol masters cotton field. As always I was trying the dickens to make it to de end of de row.

Ever since then, people of color in this part of the country have been celebrating the 19^th of June. They called it Juneteeth. Down in my hometown, somebody would Bar-B-Q a goat and make some red kool-aid. All the men would go out behind the outhouse for a cup of chock beer. We would have a high ol time. Lord we would get down de fiddle and de bow.

I have been to lot’s of Juneteeths over the years, but no matter how much fun I have, I can’t ever forget the smell of dem slave cabins and how hard it was for us to make it to de end of de row.

Now days we think that we all don made it. We got a black man on the Supreme Court, a black Secretary of State, and a black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. We even go a black President, Lord, don’t you know.

Some of my black brothers and sisters are still shackled by the invisible chains of drugs and gang violence. Unless we all join together to break dem chains, they ain’t never gonna make it to de end of de row.

This year as you enjoy the party, try not to forget just whey it is we celebrate. As a people, we don come a long way, but de good Lord knows, we still got a long way to go.

Get your woman and the kids, why you can even bring your mother-in-law, just long as you come one come all. We got big doings planned at the Juneteenth party so you just meet us all down at de end of de row.