When Peggy Trout, president of Fairchild Air Force Base’s African American Club in the late 1990s and organized the area’s first Juneteenth celebration, she had a clear goal: education.
She played games with the children in attendance and handed out trivia sheets about the holiday’s history. She also brought extra pencils for those who didn’t bring their own.
“There’s no excuse,” she said.
It was very important to her that younger generations learn the value of Juneteenth as something that brings the community together and recognizes the true end of slavery, so they can share their culture with others with pride, she said.
“This is important because it’s their history. It’s not just about African-Americans, it’s about all the kids,” Trout said. “They’re all friends and they’ve been getting along lately, so maybe they can share their history with their friends and maybe their friends can share some of their history with them.”
She wanted to instill an appreciation of the holiday in her children so that she would have someone to follow in her footsteps when she retired in 2005.
Trout said she was proud when Inland Northwest Juneteenth Coalition co-chairs Michael Bessally and Alan Jones received the torch. On Wednesday, the coalition held its 14th annual Juneteenth Park Celebration in Grant Park, concluding a series of events celebrating the holiday.
“I just love it. I love watching it,” Trout said, as kids crowded around the jump house and as many as 70 families lined up for barbecue and fried catfish. “It’s soothing to the soul.”
Growing up in Arkansas, Vesely said Juneteenth was always a big event for her growing up. Her hometown’s annual June Dinner is the longest-running celebration in the state, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Vesely lived directly across from the celebration.
“It was an eye-opening experience for me. This is my culture. These are my people,” Vesely said. “It’s always been a goal to bring that to Spokane. It’s been a goal to bring the community together and give us an opportunity to have fellowship with not only the Black community but all of those who want to come celebrate with us.”
Juneteenth is a day commonly celebrated in the American South and dates back to 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to spread news of freedom, about two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
The holiday was recognized federally in 2021, and Vesely said the designation has increased attendance at celebrations and raised awareness of the holiday in northern states.
Brenda Traylor grew up in Texas, where Juneteenth celebrations were big and common. The director of the Spokane Community Gospel Mass Choir, which sang at the event, closely ties the history of gospel music to Juneteenth. Slaves held on to their faith to give them hope when they couldn’t find hope anywhere else, she said.
“When you think about enslaved people and their lack of hope, they had to cling to something to survive,” she said.
She said she led a choir from several churches in singing “These Are the Ships of Old Zion,” a hymn sung by enslaved people to inspire hope.
“Not necessarily a hope that I’ll be delivered from this land,” she said, “but I do have hope that one day I’ll be saved by Jesus.”
She said she deliberately chose the song to highlight the horrific history of slavery, and that without remembering this, “we tend to repeat history in a negative way.”
She said she was troubled by some states’ restrictions on teaching black history, especially given racial disparities in education, health care and wealth.
“We’re still struggling. Things are getting better, but we still have a long way to go,” she said. “We built this country on our own. We are American history and we deserve to be recognized.”
