“The children lifted their hands and prayed,” she reads to the children. “Freedom, hope and joy divine. Juneteenth means it’s freedom time.”
Duncan wraps up her presentation by making sure kids know that despite its national status, Juneteenth’s culture and history is tied to the Lone Star State.
“On Juneteenth, you can get you a couple of bottles of Big Red, which is red cream soda,” she tells families. “Folks in Texas have been celebrating Juneteenth with Big Red since 1937. And that’s Texas history for you.”
“I just love that the library does free events. To teach kids history and bring the community together, I think it’s an incredible use of funds,” Liah Rosen, accompanied by her 16-month-old daughter, said.
“It wasn’t until college that I learned about Juneteenth,” she continued, motioning toward her toddler. “I’d like for her to know it her whole life.”
—
“It’s everyone’s quilt. It’s a unity quilt.” – Parks and Recreation
At this point in the Juneteenth Jubilee, the library staff kicks things into high gear: handing out food and drinks, setting up activities, and keeping kids entertained.
“We got sandwich trays, chips and cookies,” said library associate Katrina Townsend while motioning to a table in the corner of the community room. “They’re here until they’re gone.”
In the main section of the library, children from the nearby Govalle Elementary School are getting settled at a set of specially arranged tables.
The students are here with Ace-Austin, an after-school and summer program offered by the Austin Independent School District “so there’s no summer slide,” according to site coordinator Pamela McKinney.
“In our summer programs throughout East Austin, we acknowledge Juneteenth,” she said.
McKinney is supervising children as they arrange plastic beads on pegboards.
“This is our perler bead station,” explained library associate Kaitlin Raftus. “Perler beads are small, plastic, fusible beads that you can iron together.”
The Willie Mae Kirk library has supplied community members with beads and materials in red, white, and blue – the colors of the Juneteenth flag.
First designed in 1997, the Juneteenth flag adopts the same colors as the American flag, to signify that even while enslaved, Black people were still Americans.
“We’ve got folks making a Juneteenth flag out of perler beads,” Raftus said. “They can make their name. They could just make a design with beautiful colors or just something to represent the celebration.”
Raftus also talks about the main event of the day: a unity quilt community members of the public will be able to contribute to.
“We’ve already pre-cut the fabric, ” Raftus said. “People can draw a design, they can write a message, they can put whatever they want on that square that speaks to them, and then we’ll put it all together in one big community unity quilt.”
Once all the pre-cut patches are collected, they’ll be assembled into the Willie Mae Kirk Juneteenth Community Quilt.
“We’d love to make a tradition out of this so that people can come back every year and we can see how the quilt changes year to year,” Raftus said.
As of publication, the Willie Mae Kirk Branch is still accepting additions to its unity quilt.