JUNETEENTH SPEAKER SERIES PROGRAM
Saturday, June 17, 2023 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Join us for our second annual Juneteenth educational program experience “From Plantation to Emancipation”. This year, our program is free to the public thanks to our sponsors at Constellation Energy.
Special Guests: Georgia Nolan, Past Texas State President, Chairperson NACW and Past President of Houston; Trinity United Methodist Church; Rae Bryant of the Houston Suffragists Project; Descendants of the Reverend Jack Yates and Members of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
SPEAKERS
Opening by vocalist Sheryl Brady, Member of NACW
Brady researched music that was sung by the NACW members in the early part of the 20th century
Dr. Donald Williams recites the Emancipation Proclamation, General Order No. 3
Union General Gordon Granger and his troops traveled to Galveston, Texas to announce General Order No. 3 on June 19th, 1865. Williams is a Texas historian, veteran, and THS board member who performs poetry for organizations
Welcome and Juneteenth Introduction by Martha Whiting-Goddard, great granddaughter of Jack Yates
Whiting-Goddard is a THS board member who helped relocate the 1870 Jack Yates House to Sam Houston Park, wrote our Black History Tour Program and headed our UNESCO historic house designation project
175th Anniversary of Trinity UMC Church by Anita Lee-Punch, TUMC Historian
Lee-Punch will be sharing how Trinity was formed in 1848 by enslaved men. It has been located at Live Oak and Holman streets in Third Ward since 1951.
B.H. Grimes of the Ancient Order of Pilgrims by Dr. Kevin J. Williams, descendant of Buchanan H. Grimes
The Ancient Order of Pilgrims was established in Houston in 1882 to address economic issues faced by the city's African-American population during the difficult years following the period of Reconstruction.
The Pilgrim Temple Memorabilia Collection by Cheryle Cavitt, daughter of Roscoe A. Cavitt, the former Executive Secretary of National Negro Chamber of Commerce
In 1926 the fraternal organization of The Ancient Order of Pilgrims erected a headquarters building called the Pilgrim Temple. The structure is long-gone from the corner across from THS, but an historic marker for the organization has been placed in Sam Houston Park.
The Reverend Jack Yates House by Devaron Yates, descendant of Jack Yates
Yates, a preservationist, will share an architectural review of the 1870 Jack Yates House that was originally located at 1318 Andrews Street in Freedmen's Town and now in Sam Houston Park. Reader’s Digest has named the house the most famous house in Texas for two years in a row.
The UNESCO Slave Route Project and Slavery Migration Studies by Summer Perritt of Rice University
Perritt will share segments of her dissertation on the migration of Black Americans to the U.S. South in the post-civil rights era and her primary research interests include Black southern identity, Black culture, slavery, and memory.
Video about Willie Blount, first graduate of a Texas law school
Very little was known about this female trailblazer until now.
