There will be fireworks over Kilgore Thursday night – an echo of the celebrations that followed June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Texas finally learned they had been freed.
“It’s celebrating freedom,” Victor Boyd says. “Freedom from slavery, freedom for a new life.”
That’s pretty much it, according to the Kilgore City Council member. As Boyd and his colleagues from Kilgore Men & Women of Alliance put the final preparations to their Fireworks Show and Fun Day in the Park, it’s with the same spirit as organizers behind Independence Day events.
Freedom came later to many. Freedom from tyranny, from oppression for the color of their skin, arrived in the Emancipation Proclamation almost 87 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was another two years before news of President Abraham Lincoln’s edict of Jan. 1, 1863, ultimately reached Galveston, Texas.
“Now we are able to celebrate freedom from slavery,” said Boyd. “Now it’s about unifying the community. It’s about bringing all our community together.”
Kilgore Legacy Foundation brought the town together Saturday, June 14, with the annual Juneteenth Parade on Flag Day. Kilgore Men & Women of Alliance’s day-of Juneteenth celebration kicks-off at 6 p.m. Thursday evening at Kilgore City Park.
“If the rain holds off, we think it’s going to be pretty big,” Boyd said, welcoming a trio of local East Texas Southern Soul musicians for the event: Officially Art and Cholite Tye, both of Kilgore, as well as Henderson’s Du Right. DJ Infamous will provide the rest of the evening’s soundtrack
Sponsored by the City of Kilgore, Republic Services, RLM and Credit Union of Texas, the event – adjacent to Kilgore City Pool and the ‘Lazy Splash Ranch’ – will also include food vendors Raisin’ Smoke BBQ, DBK Kickin’ Chicken, Edgar’s Big Taco, Charlie’s SnoBall and Frenchy’s out of Longview. Other vendors such as Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation, Delicious Candy Pickles Factory, L&G Fashion and more will be welcoming visitors into the evening.
It all culminates in the after-dark fireworks show, Boyd says, a visual celebration of the healing that was so late in coming to many people.
“We have to find a way to celebrate what we do have,” he said. Likewise, to ensure younger generations are educated on their ancestors’ struggles. “This is one of the ways we do it. This is a start – Juneteenth and teaching to make sure we don’t lose the history.
“This younger generation, they didn’t have to deal with the Civil Rights movement that some of us were born into. It’s so many years removed that it’s not even important to them; they don’t understand the struggle. A lot of young Black Americans don’t even understand why we celebrate Juneteenth.”
It’s also an occasion for unification, he added. Each year that the mid-June fireworks precede July 4th, more and more people are learning why – June 19, 1865.
“That’s what we want to do: we want to open it up to all our citizens to come out and celebrate the slaves being free.”
