By Terri Schlichenmeyer, Northend Agent’s
Your parents both hate being late.
It’s never bad to be where you’re supposed to be, you know: on time, ready, and eager for whatever’s next. A party, your church service, lunch at Grandma’s house, it’s always best to arrive at the start with a smile. Being prompt is just good manners or, as you’ll see in “The Juneteenth Alphabet” by Andrea Underwood Petifer, pictures by Ana Latese, it could become a much bigger matter.
After the Civil War ended in April of 1865, four million formerly enslaved people embraced the end of bondage, but enslaved people in Texas did not. They weren’t informed of emancipation until much later, not until June 19, 1865. On that day, the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, to spread the good news and there was a jubilee.
That was the first Juneteenth.
There are A-B-Cs for that.
A is for album, a homemade book of memories and clippings so that kids in the future can understand their history. B is for Black and for Beautiful. C is for culture and celebration and community, three very important things to remember on Juneteenth, which began in America but is celebrated in many countries.
G is for Galveston, the city where the celebration was born. H is for healing, but also for HBCUs, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities. K is for secrets being kept, and for families that were kept apart during slavery. And L is for laws – the good ones that made Juneteenth possible; and the bad ones, like Jim Crow laws.
O is for Opal Lee, a real person who worked hard to make Juneteenth a national holiday; she is known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” R and S are both important parts of the celebration, Red for the food and drink that are traditional at Juneteenth celebrations, and Sounds and Songs that make the holiday great!
As an adult, you can probably think of many, many other representations for letters of the alphabet that are not inside “The Juneteenth Alphabet.” Civil War, notification, enslavement, parade, your list may be long and what’s here is often a stretch. As an adult, you may think that author Andrea Underwood Petifer missed a few points.
And that’s okay because you’re an adult and this book isn’t for you.
Kids who love to celebrate Juneteenth will enjoy the narrative inside this book, and children who are just learning about the holiday will get a nice, rounded education for it here. Petifer’s A-B-Cs include many sidebars meant to launch discussion with older kids, while Ana Latese’s illustrations will keep younger children interested – and if you still notice omissions, there’s room in both word and photo for parents to make additions. What fun!
This is a great book for kids ages three to five, and it gently leads six- and seven-year-olds to learn more on their own. If your family has Juneteenth plans this summer, you’ll want “The Juneteenth Alphabet.” Find it now, soon, or better late than never.
