Juneteenth celebration in Downtown Redding will honor African American history
The Shasta Coalition of African Americans for Community Health, Education and Empowerment is hosting a community celebration in Downtown Redding to celebrate and educate about Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
Tomorrow, June 19, the Shasta County community will celebrate Juneteenth with a Mardi-Gras style community block party hosted by the Shasta Coalition of African Americans for Community Health, Education and Empowerment — also known as SCOACHE.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when 250,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas — the last to remain enslaved in the country —- were announced free by executive decree. The day marked the official end of slavery in the United States, and has since symbolized a celebration of Black resilience and culture.
“Our goal is to educate what Juneteenth is all about,” Eddie McAllister, chairperson of SCOACHE and facilitator of the Shasta Beloved Community, said. “How we’re surviving, how we survived all the years of being enslaved.”
Shasta’s annual celebration of the holiday first came to Downtown Redding with the cooperation of the nonprofit Viva Downtown Redding in 2024. This year’s event will feature live music, food vendors, and local businesses alongside community resources to learn more about Juneteenth and the history of African American resistance. McAllister noted that he was most excited about the educational booths, supported by groups such as the Redding Anti-Racism Task Force and the Shasta Beloved Community.
When asked what he hoped participants would get out of the event, McAllister answered in his calm, signature tone.
“Celebration is one,” McAllister said, and “making people aware, respect for the holiday, and education.”
The event will take place at Whistlestop Park in Downtown Redding, and will run from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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Alex J,
Yes, The 13th amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. The upright citizens of Texas forgot to tell the slaves.
The tribes you mention were sovereign nations and treaties had to be negociated with them, although later the United States and the Oklahomans stole much of their land through various methods in particular the Dawes Act of 1887. This was after the great Indian Fighter, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act and President Martin Van Buren forced the relocation in 1838 which sent them on a forced march to Oaklahoma to starve there and on the way on the Trail of Tears.
In California Native Americans were legally kept in indentured servitude by the “civilized” white settlers of California until as late as 1870 althought it was largely abolished about 1865. Children were kept in indentured servitude longer with of courser permision of a parent and the barrel of a gun or other threats.
Look at your Shasta County history photos of upstanding citizend with Native children as “servants” and read your history and you can discoer for yourself who was “civilized.”
I put “civilized” in quotations because that’s how early Americans labeled the 5 tribes who participated in the African slave trade (a behaviour we would not call civilized today). All 5 of these tribes joined the Confederacy during the Civil War with Cherokee General Stand Watie being the last Confederate general to surrender (4 days AFTER Juneteenth).
What “western” settlers did to the Native Americans is unconscionable, though so too was what Native Americans often did to each other – including enslavement (with the nearby Yurok being some of the worst offenders).
I believe that Mr. Mahmoud Darwish comment (see comment hereinbelow) is factually accurate. Therefore the Union Soldiers that delivered the June 19, 1865 message to Black slaves in Texas were putting forth the facts of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. No one wants to be a slave; everyone wants to be a free person; nevertheless, the news of freedom left the former slaves in Texas with but little opportunities to do more than to change the title of master to employer. The former slaves then worked as share croppers or house maids, ectara for megger wages paid by their employers.
Americans of all colors are Americans: Our histories are but one history. Americans should consider just one annual holiday denoted as “Civilrights Day.” Within that day would be Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as the anchor day with other days of materiality to America’s expanding–read as, encompassing–civil rights including the June 19th announcement.
Facts matter to very few people. Portraying native americans as part of a slave owner culture (and therefore the same as humans everywhere) is not allowed. You can’t make up special rules for people who are equal.
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Can we talk about the ridiculous name for this holiday?
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
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Slavery was, is, and will always be wrong.
Can we talk about how slavery is wrong matter who was the slave, and who was the master?
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Is goal shifting the best you got?
They should just bundle it w MLK or whatever. These holidays are marginal, at best, on their own. MLKs life story isnt holy, just like Cesar Chavez. Same w Colombus day.
Much love and respect to Eddie McAllister. Looking forward to celebrating Juneteenth with him again this year. All power to the people. ✊🏽
“Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when 250,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas — the last to remain enslaved in the country”
FALSE
Slavery was still legal in Union states (and any confederate areas that under Union control when the emancipation proclamation was signed) until 6 months later, December 18, 1865.
Slavery had also been legal in the 5 “civilized” tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw) with Chickasaw and Choctaw slaves not freed until July 10, 1866.
So July 10, 1866 was the official end of slavery in the US, over a year after Juneteenth.