Photo: Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

Want to learn more about Juneteenth and celebrate the national holiday? Look no further than the museum area where Buffalo Soldiers National Museum (BSNM) will host a two-day Living History Encampment bringing the story of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) to life and commemorating the announcement of emancipation in Texas via General Order No. 3, 160 years ago. You’ll talk to costumed reenactors on the museum grounds and learn about the history of African Americans in the U.S. military, visit military and veteran outreach tables, enjoy a Juneteenth Liberation Market featuring local Black-owned business, and enjoy food trucks and local vendors, all part of the museum’s Juneteenth @160 celebration. Meanwhile, inside the museum educational activities include Roots & Resilience, a community gathering featuring local organizations sharing history and veteran resources, Living historians, and a dance performance. It’s free and open to all.

Bookending the festival is an opening reception Thursday evening June 19 at the Texas Southern University and a Juneteenth closing party Boots on the Ground call to action Saturday night June 21 at the historic El Dorado Ballroom for sponsors and volunteers.

“Our goal is about 1,500 visitors that weekend,” says Seba Suber, event producer and co-curator. “This is the first large-scale event like this the museum has done.”

Photo: Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

BSNM, founded in 2001 by Vietnam veteran and military historian Paul J. Matthews, is the nation’s largest museum dedicated solely to exploring and displaying the stories and contributions of African Americans in the U.S. military and contains the largest private collection of African American military memorabilia. Through displays and reenactments, BSNM educates and preserves unique American history with a mostly volunteer staff. Housed in the old Houston Light Guard Armory building, the museum is now run by Desmond Bertrand-Pitts, although not a military man he is, in fact, the grandson of Matthews and grew up hearing his grandfather’s stories of African Americans in the military.

While the main draw for Juneteenth@160 is the historical reenactors, Suber is looking forward to the contemporary art exhibit. Called Terms and Conditions, it will feature the work of 12 Houston-based Black artists.

Although long celebrated in Texas, Juneteenth only became a federal holiday four years ago. To learn more about Juneteenth, visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture website.

Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
3816 Caroline St.
Houston, TX 77004
713.942.8920
buffalosoldiersmuseum.org

by Marene Gustin