This weekend, Juneteenth will be celebrated in Chestertown and across the country. On June 19,1865, General Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas, with 2000 troops, and he read to the people General Order No.3. It was two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but Texans were unaware that all slaves had been freed. This announcement affected more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas. The first annual Jubilee Day was celebrated in Texas on June 19, 1866. Thus, the national celebration of Juneteenth was born. From that date until 2021, the number of grass roots festivals celebrating Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth has increased. Juneteenth became an official state holiday in Texas in 1979. On June 19, 2014, Congressman Al Green submitted recognition of the holiday into the Congressional Record. President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021.
Until 2021, art celebrating Juneteenth consisted of posters from across the country announcing events to celebrate the holiday. Art by “the old masters” does not yet exist, but art works by contemporary artists are increasing in number. Reginald Adams (b.1972, Cheyenne, Wyoming) traveled through much of America during his youth. Adams moved to Houston in 1990, and he was introduced to the celebration of Juneteenth. For the last 20 years he and his team of artists, The Creatives, have produced more than 350 public art projects. Adams was commissioned to paint “Absolute Equality” (2021) (126 feet long by 40 feet tall) by historian Samuel Collins III. Collins, a descendent of one of the slaves freed in 1865, served as Co-Chair of the Juneteenth Legacy Project.
The mural “Absolute Equality” is painted on the wall of the Old Galveston Square Building. It once served as Union headquarters, and it was the same location where General Granger had read General Order No. 3. Adams worked with other artists, students, and community members to understand fully the meaning of Juneteenth for Texans. Adams commented, “One of the elements that we want to do is see that this mural is beyond just a beautification of a downtown building in Galveston, but also an actual story wall, where, through some new augmented reality technology, a user can take their phone and, through this application, uncover everything. We’re making history about history.”
Adams tells the story with what he calls windows to the past, nine white circles surrounding specific events and people. The circle at the lower left corner contains a painted image of a sculpted head from the Olmec (Inca) civilization (Gulf Coast of Mexico, 1200-400 BCE). It recognizes the original inhabitants of Galveston. At the top left, the white circle encloses a map of Africa and South America with red arrows that identify the shipping routes used to bring slaves to Mexico and South America.
The mural reads from left to right. The first large full circle depicts the enslaved Moorish navigator Estevanico, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Galveston in 1528. Below the circle, five young African boys, arms in shackles, walk forward along the sea coast. They are led and directed by an African man. Above them, in the third circle, is the image of Harriet Tubman of Dorchester County, Maryland. She holds a beacon lantern and beckons slaves to follow her to freedom. It is not known if Tubman ever worked in Texas, but the Underground Railroad was active there. Adams has placed her next to President Lincoln, against aa scene of black soldiers wearing Union uniforms. They are members of the 54th Massachusetts regiment, the first African-American regiment to serve in the American Civil War.
The next circle depicts President Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation in his right hand and a pair of iron shackles in his left. Behind him, the Great Seal of the United States is set against a background of waving red, white and blue stripes. Five white doves are messengers of peace and freedom. At the bottom, a number of raised and shackled fists salute Lincoln.
As the American flag unfurls, three more doves and a circle of white stars lead the viewer to the next circle. Seated at a desk, General Gordon Granger signs the General Order No.1. Several of his African-American troops are present to see that the order is properly and efficiently carried out. General Granger read General Order #3 to several different groups of the Galveston population on June 17, although he did not sign that order. On discovering that General Granger had not signed General Order #3, for historical accuracy, Adams painted out the number 3 and replaced it with the number 1, a similar order that Granger had signed.
Farther to the right, and into more modern time, in the lowest circle, white doves fly over the Hotel Galvez and the seawall built to protect Galveston from flooding. Later in Galveston history, the Hotel Galvez served as a temporary White House for President Roosevelt and as a Coast Guard facility during World War II. In the uppermost circle, an astronaut stands before a golden sunset and looks toward the future of all Americans. Although the race of the astronaut is not identified, NASA has sent more than fifteen African-American astronauts, including African-American woman, on missions to space.
In the last circle, Adams depicts in silhouette contemporary African-American citizens of all ages, including the disabled, walking forward into the future. General Order #3 is written in white letters set against a black line along the bottom of the mural. The title “Absolute Equality” stands out in large letters on the wall. At the lower right corner of the wall, an American eagle, its head turned toward to future, wings spread, clasps in its beak a banner containing the date 1865. “Absolute Equality” was unveiled to the Galveston public on June 19, 2021.
Adams hoped his work would lead to conversations about contemporary social issues arising from slavery and years of inequality: “Projects like this are important to tell American history in a more accurate way. These types of projects also open up new doorways for social dialogue regarding social justice and racial equity. The magnitude, scale, and beauty of the mural make it a lot easier for people with differing opinions or attitudes around racial issues to have a more open and transparent conversation. The mural helps place a sweetness around the harsh and bitter taste of racism and social inequities.”
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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