McAllen celebrates Juneteenth at site of historic Black church

Events like this give us an opportunity to break down some of the stereotypes, some of the misnomers, some of the ignorance, for lack of a better term.

McALLEN — It would take more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation before enslaved people in Texas would learn they were, at last, free.

That day was June 19, 1865 when Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived on the shores of Galveston and read General Order No. 3, announcing that “all slaves are free,” has since become a day of remembrance and celebration known as Juneteenth.

In recent years, the jubilee celebration has grown locally, as the Black community here grows, and as the Rio Grande Valley’s role in the journey toward freedom has increasingly come to light.

To that end, members of Village in the Valley, or VIVA, an organization aimed at elevating the Black community through education and fostering unity, hosted a Juneteenth celebration Monday at the historic Bethel Gardens in South McAllen.

The tranquil gardens, which are dotted with educational plaques and colorful murals, was once the site of a Black Baptist church during the Jim Crow era.

For Alphonzo Gatling, pastor of Mt. Olive Worship Center, and one of the founding members of VIVA, the gardens set the perfect scene for celebrating the Juneteenth jubilee — for both remembering the past and learning forgotten history.

“Like we found out today, the Williams family that built housing for college students coming from a traditionally Black college,” Gatling said after the ceremony.

He was referring to a McAllen family that proved to be pivotal for Black college students studying agriculture at Prairie View A&M near Houston, a historically Black college.

The Williams family built housing here for those students to get a firsthand experience of their agricultural studies, according to Rina Castillo, community and economic development agent with the university.

That was a piece of local history Gatling hadn’t known about until Monday’s jubilee, he said. And it’s part of what Juneteenth is all about.

“Events like this give us an opportunity to break down some of the stereotypes, some of the misnomers, some of the ignorance, for lack of a better term,” Gatling said.

There are many examples of the Valley’s place in Black history, explained Dr. Ray Howard Sr., a community leader and educator who retired from the UTRGV School of Medicine.

“The Rio Grande Valley has a really important history in terms of what we’re learning about freed African Americans, and even those who weren’t free, but were seeking freedom,” Howard said.

It’s only been in recent years that historians have learned of the Underground Railroad’s routes south through the Valley, with the help of local mixed-race families, like the Jacksons and the Webbers.

They helped enslaved people cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, where slavery had been abolished decades before the American Civil War.

And that history, Howard said, is something that should be celebrated and shared.

“Perhaps the most important reason is that African American history is American history,” the retired professor said.

For Howard, Juneteenth is about more than uncovering history, it’s also about challenging us to do better as a nation, “to really support each other and to make sure that all of our rights are available to every resident of this nation,” he said.

His words were particularly poignant given recent trends to walk back some of the hard-won progress that has been made.

The Rio Grande Valley has a really important history in terms of what we’re learning about freed African Americans, and even those who weren’t free, but were seeking freedom.

On June 15, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public colleges, which includes the University of Texas system.

The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

A similar law was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month. That legislation, in part, severely restricts race and gender courses.

Similar legislation has been debated in a dozen statehouses across the country this year.

Such trends mean that now, more than ever, it’s important to “lift up the authenticity of history,” Howard said.

“We can’t allow, as a nation, for anyone — whether they’re in elected office or in positions of influence — to roll back all the efforts that have been made to lift us up and to make sure that equality is applicable to all,” Howard said.

It was a sentiment echoed by McAllen District 5 Commissioner Victor “Seby” Haddad, who read a proclamation honoring Juneteenth, and whom Gatling described as a public official who has “done the work.”

We remember because if we deny freedom, liberty and civil rights to one people, we are denying them to all,” Haddad said. “We remember because it happened.”

To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s full photo gallery here: 

Photo Gallery: McAllen celebrates Juneteenth at site of historic Black church