NOJOC LIMESTONE COUNTY CHAIR PREPARES FOR JUNETEENTH
Great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington to visit Mexia during Juneteenth
Pictured above: is the background of Lake Mexia, that enclosing the BTW Park.
Booker T. Washington great granddaughter, Dr. Sara Washington Rush will be in attendance for the 19 of June, Saturday at noon on June 17th, 2023. “ Juneteenth” as it is better known, is an annual celebration of Texas Emancipation Day.
Sandra Crenshaw invited Dr. Rush to a June 19th reception later the same day, June 17th from 7pm-9pm. The celebration is A Tribute to Achievement in the legacy of Booker T. Washington
BWT is the only emancipation park owned and operated by the descendants of former slaves. It was 2.5 miles south of the park, is the Logan Stroud Farm. A plantation owner of over 100 slaves, Logan Stroud , himself announced that his slaves were free. The details of the day were partly recorded by the Limestone County Historical Commission that the Stroud family front porch is where the enslaved people in central Texas were informed of the end of the Civil War.
Crenshaw, a Civil War historian and Genealogist, researched Mexia and the Limestone County celebrations of June 19th for her book which will be launched on September 23, 2023.
Doris Pemberton, a former Mexia resident, opens up her book “Juneteenth at Comanche Crossing” to the chapter of Booker T. Washington Park. Dr. Pemberton recalls “the first day of celebration of the 19th of June was thirty years in the past and yet there is no permanent place for the Annual celebration. And not one had been found in Limestone County.
Celebrants of the past had gathered under the shaded creek banks. According to Dr. Pemberton, Miss Cotton Jessie, a daughter of an ex slave, said “For many years the Honorable Ralph Long , a black Republican State legislator, was the featured orator, speaking at times from bed of a wagon parked in the shade. As many as 20,000 often gathered for the occasion.
“The celebrants became weary, moving from pillow to post by 1897,” said Pemberton. Lee Pinkard led a determined band of men intruding and marching to the Old Confederate Reunion Grounds nearby to hold the celebration there at the confederate grounds. “A few of them worked at the camp,” Pemberton said.
“But before Pinkard and company arrived at their destination, they were met with the officers of the old Reunion Ground and the elected officials of the County.” A parcel of the county land near the ground had been given for the use of indigent slaves and recorded in the minutes of the County Commissioner’s Court. “BUT IT RAINED THAT YEAR, according to the Beatrice Pinkard Baker, the daughter of Lee Pinkard ” and the site was never used.”
Warren Conner, an ex-slave, owned property that adjoined the reunion grounds and part of it was donated and staked off for the 19th of June celebration. Pemberton explains “ This was to ensure that all future generations of African Americans would have a permanent place to celebrate their freedom on the 19th of June.
“ The park was fathered by tough religious men and concerned by strong charitable women. Together they petitioned for this permanent place to celebrate the emancipation of Slaves which was granted through the grace of God.” praised Doris Pemberton.
On Saturday, June 17, 2023 ,a caravan will follow Dr. Rush to Waxachie for the NAACP Juneteenth Parade at 11:00am and then to Mexia around noon.
James Kirven below and couple Don and Madlyn Gamble are on the Board of Directors of the Nineteenth of June Organization which is the organization that oversees the Booker T. Washington Park . Volunteers are needed. They will meet every weekend until Juneteenth. They can be reached at 281-471-2063
Comanche Crossing is 0.1 miles south of Farm to Market Road 3437, on the right when traveling south.
