LIVING HISTORY FARMS WILL LAUNCH ITS 2023 CIVIC SEASON ON JUNE 10... with a celebration of Emancipation Day: A Juneteenth Event. Civic Season is an initiative by museums nationwide to connect our newest and oldest national holidays— Juneteenth and Inin recognition of “the struggles and hardwon victories in our ongoing journey to form a ‘more perfect union.’” The legacy of Emancipation Day in Iowa predates the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. “Even before the Civil War, Black Iowans were creating events to support equality in our state, inviting Blacks and whites to participate,” says Leo Landis, state curator, State Historical Society of Iowa, who will explore that long history in a presentation at Living History Farms. Enslaved people in the British West Indies were freed in 1834, and celebrations reached the Northeastern United States by the 1840s. “Communities big and small hosted these events,” Landis says. The first recorded celebration in Iowa was in 1856 in Muscatine, led by Alexander Clark, who later filed a lawsuit that led to a landmark school desegregation case and was instrumental in gaining voting rights for Black men in Iowa. “Slavery was a real thing to people in the 1850s,” Landis adds. “There were Iowans who at one time had been enslaved. People who had been enslaved were among those leading these events. As those organizers and their children passed on, there was less direct connection, and celebrations ebbed. Then in the 1970s, there was a resurgence in the Midwest.” Emancipation Day was more than a celebration, says Rachelle Chase, author, speaker, and Des Moines Register columnist. Early events were “a time of reflection, where people who had gone through horrific experiences could celebrate where they were now,” says. “It was also a time to talk about the struggles ahead, to acknowledge the work that leaders were still doing and would continue to do.” “I don’t think people know the history,” she adds. “These celebrations should be used as an opportunity to bring history to life.” Chase will bring a particular piece of Iowa history to life through the story of Buxton, a fully integrated mining town in southeast Iowa in the early 20th century. “Everybody got the day off for Emancipation Day,” she says. “The coal company gave everybody the day—and that included white citizens as well—to attend the celebrations. That didn’t happen everywhere.” Emancipation Day also provides an opportunity to explore the experience of Black settlers in Iowa. Ricki King, a forensic historian and owner of Roots to Branches Genealogy, will delve into the often-overlooked history of Black pioneers. Iowa entered the Union as a free state in 1846, but it required Black settlers to pay a $500 bond and prohibited them from voting. Still, Black Iowans could own land. Many Black pioneers arrived via the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and settled in river communities, King says, but some settled farmland. King will also demonstrate genealogical research techniques. “African Americans think they’ll hit a brick wall when they reach the years of slavery,” she says. “That’s a myth. Instead of taking a direct line, maybe look at an ancestor’s sibling.” That’s how she filled in two branches on her own tree. “It’s about knowing your history and passing that down,” King says. “We should know who our ancestors are.” For young visitors, author Abena Sankofa Imhotep will explore African heritage through her book “Omari’s Big Tree and the Mighty Djembe,” about a boy who dreams of having his own drum. Imhotep is executive director of the Sankofa Literary and Empowerment Group for children ages 3 to 8 who struggle with reading. She found that many books about children of color revolved around trauma. “I wanted to give them books where they could see themselves that would be celebratory,” she says. “I wanted to give them books where the child could be the hero.” Imhotep will play her own djembe, and the “Big Tree” of the title will provide a touchpoint for a family tree craft. “Juneteenth/Emancipation Day is part of our family ethos,” she says. “We gather for a big dinner. We remember. We storytell. We sing songs that our grandparents sang. It’s important for us to know that there’s more to our family than just the people in this room.” This is the second year that Living History Farms has held an Emancipation Day event. “We are committed to sharing these time-honored traditions and celebrations with the community to elevate a more informed and inspired engagement with civics and history,” says Ruth Haus, president. “We are grateful for the community support that makes these Civic Season events possible.” 29
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