Our founder and CEO, Dr. Matthew C. Whitaker, featured in “'Strength and resilience': Carver Museum launches Juneteenth exhibit ahead of holiday”

Ray Covarrublas and Kira Caspers, Arizona Republic

Matthew Whitaker was surprised when he learned other Black households didn’t celebrate Juneteenth.

He grew up in the Valley, but his family was from east Texas. His mother always emphasized the importance of the holiday, he said.

"I have always celebrated Juneteenth," recalled Whitaker. "I just grew up with it. I didn't know that there were people … Black people, in particular, who didn't celebrate too."

Now, Whitaker hopes to change that, by celebrating and preserving Black history.

Juneteenth, short for "June nineteenth," signifies the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed and announced the state’s 250,000 enslaved people “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

On June 17, 2021, it was made an official federal holiday.

On Saturday, the Carver Museum in Phoenix hosted an inaugural Juneteenth Festival, offering a special preview of the exhibit.

This year, ahead of Juneteenth, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center launched a new exhibit exploring the holiday’s significance to Black history in the state: “Jubilee Journey: Celebrating Freedom and Resilience in Arizona.”

Whitaker, who was nearing his second year as executive director at the museum, said his hope is that the exhibit helps people “come away with a greater appreciation for the strength and resilience of people of African descent.”

How Juneteenth came to be

While Juneteenth is the nation's youngest federal holiday, the day has long been a special celebration.

The day has been commemorated for more than 160 years to recognize and celebrate the day enslaved African Americans learned of their emancipation, making it official.

On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in the Galveston area of Texas learned of their freedom.

The news came 2 1/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, bringing an end to the Civil War.

Enslavers were responsible for telling the enslaved they were free, but some ignored the directive.

This event gave rise to the Juneteenth holiday.

‘The good, the bad, and the ugly’

Whitaker described the exhibit as one that displays "the good, the bad and the ugly" of African American migration to the Americas and an opportunity to learn from the past.

"(The exhibit) covers the migration experience of people of African descent to the state … from the time of Estevanico de Dorantes … all the way to the present," Whitaker said.

Dorantes was an enslaved explorer from the 1500s who Spanish conquistadors used for scouting and interpreting in the West, long before enslaved Africans were brought to the colonies. He’s believed to be the first person of African descent to explore North America.

Arizona became a state in 1912, 47 years after slavery was abolished in the United States, setting the state up for a unique history where slavery was technically never legal.

Local historians said the number of African Americans in Arizona increased gradually over the state's history, as witnessed through landmark migrations. These movements contributed to Arizona's current African American community, which makes up 5.5% of the state's population, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

California's position in a growing nation made it a destination for travelers heading west, but many took residence in Arizona either by choice or circumstance.

Many African Americans leaving the South left behind an oppressive reality, along with the humid weather that contrasted Arizona's dry and warm climate suitable for those with health concerns, Whitaker said.

The transition out of World War II initially brought economic prospects previously not seen for minorities like African Americans, and economic growth extended into Arizona after the war.

The mid-20th century brought with it renowned civil rights attention that quickly spread to Arizona, including a visit from Dr. Martin Luther King, who spoke at Tanner African Methodist Episcopal Chapel in the Eastlake neighborhood in 1964.

What did the struggle for racial equality look like within  Arizona’s Black community?

"Arizona may not have participated in slavery by the letter of the law, but they certainly participated in what became known as slavery by another name, which was Jim Crow segregation," Whitaker said.

According to the exhibit at Carver Museum, Jim Crow laws impacted everyday life for Black Arizonans from the late 1800s all the way to the 1960s.

Black residents were not allowed to engage in interracial marriage. They faced land ownership and residency restrictions, along with being placed under segregation through "separate but equal" doctrine.

Curator Paul Alan Taliercio archived many of the images in the exhibit, chronicling what he described as the resilience of the African American community.

One photo featured in the museum’s Jubilee exhibit, which Whitaker described as “harrowing,” depicts students from the same school the museum was housed in picking cotton in a field near Papago Park in Tempe in 1943.

"Apparently, Carver students were hired out, so to speak, to do what their ancestors had done for generations in the south," Whitaker said.

Jaynie Adams is a historian at the Arizona Historical Society, an organization that contributed to the Carver Museum's Juneteenth exhibit. She echoed Whitaker's sentiment.

Although slavery never formally existed in Arizona as it did in the southern United States, "that doesn't mean that Black Arizonans were not second-class citizens," Adams said.

According to the Tucson-based historian, a legacy of the Confederacy remained in southern Arizona after the territory joined the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The aftermath of anti-Union sentiment impacted the lives of Black Arizonans in Tucson and surrounding areas long after the territory was recaptured by Union troops in 1862, Adams said.

Despite the challenges of Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws, the exhibit aims to showcase how Black Arizonans helped feed a young, growing Arizona economy by becoming farmers, cowboys, miners, construction workers and more.

Juneteenth celebrations come full circle for Phoenix-based historian

Whitaker remembered attending Eastlake Park celebrations throughout his childhood regardless of the summer temperature.

While looking over a section of a Carver Museum wall, Whitaker examined a photo of a Juneteenth celebration at the park taken in the mid-1980s. He admired the style of dress, fashion and hairstyles that dated the image.

"There was a basketball tournament. We listened to music, we danced, there were spoken word performances and all sorts of things to do there,” Whitaker said.

“But we always made sure that we paused and reflected upon the meaning of Juneteenth.”

Eastlake Park, near 16th and Jefferson streets, became the "focal point" of Black history in Phoenix, according to the city's website. 

The park was an important gathering place during decades of segregation where Black people were not welcome in other areas, generally north of Van Buren Street, and forced to attend segregated schools.

In the early 20th century, it was a popular spot because of the lake and other amenities. As the years went on and the Phoenix Black community grew in nearby neighborhoods, it evolved into an important part of the city's history. Eastlake Park now hosts an annual Juneteenth celebration.

The essence of Juneteenth, Whitaker said, lies in reflection, appreciation and action.

“I want folks to see that no matter what is thrown your way, with the proper faith, understanding, courage and fortitude, you can survive it — together and forward,” he said.

To visit the exhibit, group tours must be scheduled in advance at carveraz.org. Admission is free but on an appointment-only basis.

Republic reporter Laura Daniella Sepulveda and former Republic reporter BrieAnna J. Frank contributed to this article. Click HERE for access the original ariticle.