File This Under: Black Joy
Juneteenth 2021 in Durham, N.C.: Celebration in Spite of Challenge
‘Juneteenth was a reminder that we are free from slavery but not from legalized discrimination’
This past weekend, I emptied out my camera bag and made space for diapers, wipes, and a few face masks. After a year-plus of quarantining, I strapped my three-year-old daughter into the car seat, and we headed out to our first post-Covid public gathering, a Juneteenth celebration. We decided to celebrate the first federally recognized Juneteenth in the historic Hayti community of Durham, North Carolina. Hayti was a flourishing community of businesses, churches, and schools built by freed Black people after the Civil War. In the 1960s and later, urban renewal destroyed 4,000 homes and 500 businesses in the neighborhood. Being here on Juneteenth was a reminder that we are free from slavery but not from legalized discrimination.
Despite the challenges we still face in pursuit of equity, our community came together to celebrate. There will be many conversations about the nationalization of a Texas holiday, but for now, I choose joy. Balancing photography and parenting, I captured the excitement of my daughter’s first Juneteenth celebration.
Willa can’t read—she’s only three—but something about these signs made her pause. Maybe it was because she recognized Vice President Kamala Harris.
