The word Juneteenth is the combining of the words “June” and “nineteenth”.  Juneteenth denotes the day General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Texas to free the last remaining enslaved Africans.  Today we celebrate Juneteenth to honor our ancestors.  We honor their strength, endurance and their ability to rise from the depths of pure hell to create a new lives filled with hope, love and family.  

After the Civil War, our ancestors were here to watch the rise of the United States of America.  We can only imagine the excitement and fear they felt as they started their new lives.  Everything was possible.  

Juneteenth is a celebration 

Of freedom

Of possibilities

Of family

Of Joy!

This is one of my favorite family pictures. It's my Great Grandfather, Ernest. My Grandmother told me he was a quiet man. That he was proud. I will never know what he endured as a farmer in the deep south. But, what I do know is that my sense of possibilities, of hope were passed down from him to my Grandmother-from her to my Mother and from my Mother to me.