Native Drums
Explore the powerful symbolism of drums in African American culture, once tools of communication and resistance during the darkest times of slavery. We confront the lingering shadows of economic exploitation and the pervasive influence of media and religion in controlling black narratives. Let’s reexamine the role of the black church and its mission to fight systemic injustices, urging a return to prophetic ministries that prioritize humanity and community over material wealth. This podcast episode is not just a reflection of the past but a call to action for the future, urging us to build a more just and liberated world.
Native Drums
When the Drums of Liberation Finally Reached Texas
Freedom delayed is still freedom worth celebrating. Jazzy Poetic: The Juneteenth Experience takes listeners on a soul-stirring journey through music, poetry, and storytelling to explore the profound significance of June 19, 1865—the day when news of emancipation finally reached enslaved people in Texas, a full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
Bhakti Larry Hough and the Bhakti Project masterfully weave together jazz melodies, African drumming, and powerful spoken word to illuminate this pivotal moment in American history when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with 2,000 troops to enforce freedom. Through original compositions and freedom songs like "Oh Freedom" and "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around," the performance captures both the joy of liberation and the bitter realization that freedom had been deliberately withheld from those enslaved in Texas.
The cultural and historical significance of Juneteenth unfolds through stories of the first celebrations in 1866, initially called "Jubilee Day," held in churches and near water since public spaces remained segregated. We learn how Texas formally recognized the holiday in 1979, and how the tireless advocacy of Opal Lee—who at 89 years old walked from Fort Worth to Washington DC—contributed to Juneteenth finally becoming a federal holiday in 2021 after the racial reckoning following George Floyd's murder. Beyond American shores, we discover connections to celebrations in Mexico among descendants of Black Seminoles.
As the final notes of "We Will Be Alright" remind us, the struggle for true freedom continues, but so does the resilience and determination that have sustained Black Americans through generations. Listen now to experience the power of cultural preservation through art and understand why Juneteenth represents not just a historical milestone but an ongoing commitment to justice, liberation, and hope.
All right, good evening everyone. I'd like to extend a warm welcome on behalf of Francis Marion University and our president, fred. Carter the African American faculty and staff coalition, the African American Studies and University Studies slavery initiative. We welcome you to an evening of. Jazzy Poetic, the Juneteenth Experience by Bhakti Larry Hoof and the Bhakti Project. Bhakti Larry Hoof is a dynamic performing and teaching artist, cultural preservationist and modern-day griot as president and artist in residence of New World Artists in Hartsville, south Carolina.
Speaker 1:He uses music, poetry, storytelling and percussion to honor and uplift African and gospel musician Hough has inspired audiences across the state through educational residencies, public performances and cultural programming. His work bridges generations, inviting communities to connect deeply with heritage, healing and the power of arts. Ladies and gentlemen, please give an enthusiastic no-transcript.
Speaker 3:I have known rivers as ancient as the world and as old as the flow of human blood and human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when donals were young. I built my hut in the Congo. When I lowed me to sleep, I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it, and I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Amy Blinken went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom grow all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers, ancient, deep like the rivers, as likes the views the negro speaks of rivers, the backdrop of John Coltrane's Love Supreme and good evening.
Speaker 2:Happy Juneteenth.
Speaker 3:Happy Freedom Day, emancipation Day, such an important day in the history of America. And this is Jazzy Poetic, the Juneteenth Experience. Thank you for the introduction. Jazzy Poetic is a performance series that takes a chapter, a topic of African American history and culture and illuminates and celebrates it through jazz, other types of music, poetry, african drumming and, of course, storytelling. The day was no-transcript. All slaves in Texas are now free. The nation had been at war with itself for the previous four years, after 13 southern states seceded from the Union and on the federal installation of Fort Sumter in the Charleston Park starting the Civil War. But now the war was over. In 1865, confederate Commander Robert E Lee had surrendered at Appomattox and now the emancipation process could proceed. It had started in.
Speaker 3:January 1863 with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. But it only started the process. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all enslaved people. It only freed the enslaved people in the Confederate States, in the Confederate States. So there were many people still enslaved after January 1863.
Speaker 3:The Emancipation process was slow and inconsistent, and how well it went generally depended upon the presence of Union troops to be present to enforce emancipation. Because emancipation was not popular among the slave owners, they they resisted, and so very often they simply did not tell the people they held captive that they had been freed. So that's how we explain how the word of freedom did not reach Texas until two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. And Granger, the Union General, was there in Texas with 2,000 troops in order to enforce it there.
Speaker 3:Juneteenth is a very, very important historical moment and we certainly should celebrate it. But it was a milestone on the way to ultimate freedom. It did not just like the Emancipation Proclamation did not. It did not free everybody, because many people remained enslaved in Texas after Juneteenth and also in what they called the border states Kentucky and Delaware. It wasn't until December of 1865 that all enslaved people were freed with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, but still there was celebration, dancing, playing the drums and, of course, singing singing freedom songs.
Speaker 2:Like old freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom, freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom. Over me and before I'm asleep, I and go home to my love and be free. They don't let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around. They don't let nobody turn me around, ain't gonna let nobody Turn me around. I keep on talking, keep on talking. Watching up the freedom land, I'm gonna march it, march it marchin' down Freedom's Road. Ain't nobody gonna stop me. Ain't nobody gonna stop me Marching down Freedom's Road.
Speaker 3:It'll only be as plain as the nose on your face. There's room in this world for every race, but I'm marching as I'm marching, and this world from red is on a marchin' as I'm marchin'.
Speaker 2:Marchin' down freedom's road.
Speaker 3:You can just imagine the freed men and women learning that they had actually been freed two and a half earlier, on Juneteenth. This is the freed man speaks on Juneteenth. Two whole years, two whole years, lord. And then some you mean to tell me that for two whole years I've been free and nobody told me I've been free and nobody told me For two whole years I could have been owning my own land, picking my own cotton, being my own man, madison Hill. They robbed us and I'm mad about that, but they robbed us for more than 250 years. So I guess a couple more years Don't make much difference, but we're free now and I'm glad about that. So we gonna dance, we gonna sing, just like we did back home then, and we gonna beat the drum.
Speaker 2:We gonna beat the drum. You're gonna beat the drum Two whole years Lord.
Speaker 3:Two whole years of dancing. To whom is love? To whom is adventure? One day, when the glory comes, it will be ours. It will be ours One day when the world's won it will be sure, it will be sure.
Speaker 2:Glory, glory, glory, blow me, oh, blow me, oh, blow me. Thank you, so, so bye. That's Jerron Lancaster on the trombone and Tron.
Speaker 3:Green on sax. The first official June Peace celebration took place in 1866 in Texas. The rejoicing was widespread and people wanted to mark this special occasion on their march to freedom. And of course segregation still existed. So enslaved people, formerly enslaved people, could not use, or were not allowed to use, public facilities for their celebrations. So most of the early celebrations were held in churches and near water, and at that time the occasion was called Jubilee Day, and it was for many years after. The word Juneteenth, which is a portmanteau of June and 19th, did not come into use until until the 1890s when the holiday became a little more commercialized. So eventually Leeds and La Crosse, texas, raised $1,000 and bought 10 acres of land to hold their celebrations, and that land today is the Emancipation Park in Houston, texas. The people just wanted to be free and they celebrated at every opportunity they got To celebrate this newfound freedom. They were saying all we want is to be free.
Speaker 3:We just want to take the chains off. We just want to take the chains off. We just want wanna be free. We just wanna take the chains off. We just wanna take the chains off. We just wanna be free. I don't know why. Every time I look outside, my people are dying. I want you to know. They don't make no gun that can kill my soul. We just want to take these chains off. We have shaken these chains off. We are free. Oh, we have taken these chains off. We have taken these chains off.
Speaker 2:We are free me, me, so, so Thank you. So, thank you. We just want to take the chains off and be free. Shall I pick me?
Speaker 3:Shall I be on. Who picked me on the keyboard? Chains off. We just want to take the chains off. We just want to be free Be free. Be free, and be free was what performing the slave people did after Juneteenth.
Speaker 3:The celebrations continued year after year, but during the Great Depression, the early part of the 20th century and also the Jim Crow era led to the celebrations falling off a good bit as people were preoccupied with other issues. But they did still continue. Then, around the 70s, there became a strong push for the formal recognition of the June. The celebrations then picked up again and they took many different forms, as they do today. Anything from rodeos, car shows, fishing expeditions, lectures, music concerts, festivals of various kinds celebrate African-American history and culture and freedom. The state of Texas was the first to formally recognize Juneteenth back in 1938 with the proclamation, but then with legislation in 1979. After she retired from teaching in the 70s, a teacher takes his name, Opalal Lee got involved. For decades she worked to make June Peter Feller a holiday. She would take these 2.5 mile walks to symbolize the two and a half years that the enslaved people in Texas remained enslaved after the Emancipation Proclamation. And at the age of 89, she made a symbolic walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington DC to appeal to President Barack Obama for assistance in making June 10th a federal holiday Throughout all this process.
Speaker 3:As we know, music is the life bloodod of African American people. It's the universal language spoken in a particular and unique way among African Americans. Freedom songs, protest songs, redemption songs. Oh, pirates, yes, they rob. I so I'm from the merchant ship. Minutes after they took back From the bottom their spirit, but my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this derision. Triumphantly. We are winning this generation Triumphantly. Won't you help me sing these songs of freedom? They're all I ever have. Redemption songs, Redemption songs. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy, Cause none of them can stop the tide. How long shall they kill our prophets? While we stand aside and look, Some say it's just a part of it. While we stand aside and look, Some say it's just a part of me.
Speaker 2:We've got to fulfill the role. Won't you help me see these songs of freedom?
Speaker 3:Lord, I never had Redemption soon.
Speaker 2:Redemption soon. Redemption soon, I'm sorry, thank you, so Thank you. I'm going to sing a song called Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
Speaker 3:None but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy. No, nothing can stop the tide. How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand?
Speaker 2:aside and look, some say it's just a party.
Speaker 3:We've got to fulfill the purpose. Won't you tell the story upon me? May God fulfill the will. Won't you help me sing these songs of fear? They're all I've ever heard Redemption song, redemption song, redemption song, redemption song, thank you, thank you very much. It's a Bob Marley song, redemption song.
Speaker 3:Yes, and the process continued People getting used to the freedom, people celebrating this freedom. And in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, there came about what many call a racial reckoning in the United States. So that expedited the push for Juneteenth toward being third party. And On June 17th, 2021, president Joe Biden signed the National Independence National Juneteenth Independence Day Act into law. So not only is it a federal holiday now, but every state in the Union and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth in some way. I'll say it. And Juneteenth is also celebrated in Mexico, is also celebrated in Mexico, in a region that is inhabited by descendants of black Seminoles, the Kahuga people, and they recognize, appreciate and celebrate their African heritage, and that's the mentor of Mexico. Yes, so we see that Juneteenth was a part of the process and the process continues.
Speaker 3:Many people say the struggle continues, but I don't like that word struggle. We make the effort, we push forward. We're determined, but I don't like calling it struggle. I think it's inevitability, even though it doesn't seem like it. But I think the forces we see today that seem to be opposed the freedom, justice and equality, equity for everybody are taking last gasp. They know that way of living and being is on the way out of living and being is on the way out and they want to try to stop it at all costs. But I don't think that's possible, even though things may appear hopeless sometimes. So we press on and as people of Africa descend, we know it's been a long, hard road, it's been challenging, it's been difficult, but throughout our history we have developed solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the African continent and in many ways many people are repatriating to Africa now.
Speaker 3:So in a lot of ways, people of African descent are saying Mama Africa, I'm coming home, coming home physically, but also in consciousness and in spirit and spirit, as we truly recognize and appreciate the moments we came. Thank you, who will you blame? I hear you calling, calling my name, I hear the drums. The body really makes me scream. The song is in my soul. You'll naturally come home Soon. It may fade soon, but I'll have to wait for the day to come. I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home. They say, I cannot sing in this strange land, but that's not so, for I'm an African man and the song is in my soul.
Speaker 2:It will naturally come home Soon, in the face of the left winged mob. I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Your name can drop on the mud, just like mine has here.
Speaker 3:We all are challenging, but we have no fear. We'll overcome Our empty god.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be gone, I'm going to be gone. So, thank you, thank you, let's go, let's run kids on sax.
Speaker 3:So so Thank you, let's go. Thank you One more second for the drums. Thank you way Mama Africa by the Carthage Original by Chuck Norman. And we're going to wrap things up with a couple of originals, Songs that speak to freedom and the knowing that, despite the challenges that we face in life, whatever form they may take, that ultimately, if we keep working, keep believing, keep have been long. But here comes the sun. Piano plays softly my creator. I thank you. I've got one more chance. My heart can still sing, my soul can still dance. The night is behind me. Yesterday's done, today is a new day. Here comes the sun. Life can be funny or slippery, slow. There are no guarantees for power and hope. Rise, my sister, and live your destiny. Shine, my brother, be what you know that you were meant to be, so uh ¶¶.
Speaker 2:That's our old game. One more time, thank you, so Sing with me now.
Speaker 3:Play this new chance. Let your heart sing now. Let your soul dance. Don't rest on your laurels. Create a new vision. Today is a new day. Here comes the sun. Life can be funny. It's still too slow. There are no guarantees, no power. In love God, who guarantees the?
Speaker 2:power and love Rise, my sister, you live your destiny.
Speaker 3:Shine, my brother, be what you know that you were meant to be me. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. So, brothers and sisters, it's been a tremendous honor and a pleasure to be with you on this evening to celebrate Juneteenth, and I just want you to know, just want to confirm that we're going to be alright. Alright, we don't know the challenges. Sometimes the adversarial forces seem formidable, invincible, but it's their job to convince us to think that way, so that we overlook what is actually their weakness and their vulnerability. But let's just keep working, keep believing, keep referring again we'll be all right, I will be all right, you will be all right. You may be hurting and they feel the same. Your heart may be breaking and you feel the same. Believe in. Hard times will come, but they also will go. Keep the faith, just hang on. Life is ever slow. You'll be alright, my sister, I'm right by your side. Hold on my brother, I'm right by your side. Keep faith, my people. God is on our side. With everybody moving together, everybody will be alright. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Sharon, nia Bloom-Kinney and Bach Project Music Director on keyboards. Gerard Lancaster on trombone, anton Ritter on saxophones. Pumar second on drums. I'm Bob Kularikoff. We are the Bob Kularikoff Team. Thank you so very much. Thank you for blessing us with your presence Today. We love you. May God bless you and we wish you peace.
Speaker 2:Enjoy your Monday and your June 15th evening, and we wish you peace and joy and reminder of your duty people, Thank you. Thank you so much.