On a day when the news media are absorbed by the Florida indictment of TFG on 37 criminal counts involving his mishandling of classified (and other) materials, today’s Virginia Gazette features three entirely local stories – summer expectations for our region’s vital tourism industry, a local celebration of Juneteenth, and graduation ceremonies for Jamestown High School (two blocks from my house). For good measure, the picture above the masthead congratulates the Jamestown boy’s soccer team, which won the state championship last Saturday. As I paged through the paper, I didn’t see any national news at all until I came to the Op-Ed page, where editorials and Letters To The Editor reflected an interest in the national drama.
I’m going to focus on one story from the front page, because it illustrates how Colonial Williamsburg is adapting its programming to reflect the latest historical scholarship, particularly regarding the role of enslaved persons in 18th-century Virginia. Historians over the past several decades have realized that they have to look beyond the powerful elites to tell the full story of what happened historically. When you realize that about 50% of the 18th-century population in Williamsburg was enslaved, you understand that the history of slavery is not only important to African-Americans; it is important to everyone. Enslaved persons in Williamsburg formed an important part of the life of the town, and you can’t tell the story of the town without including this very significant part of the community.
The focus of the story is a new celebration sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg: a Juneteenth Sunrise Service to be held at 6 a.m. by the massive Compton Oak tree on Market Square. To refresh your memory, Juneteenth acknowledges the reality that, although the Emancipation Proclamation became law in January of 1863, it wasn’t until Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, that enslaved persons in the area got the news that they were officially free. Not surprisingly, the white slaveholders hadn’t told them that they were free. President Biden signed legislation in June, 2021, making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
The article explains that the service is inspired by “Watch Night,” also known as “Freedom’s Eve,” which is a tradition in Black churches “born out of the enslaved community’s ‘waiting for the hour’ on the night of December 31, 1862, before the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Easter Sunday sunrise services were first conducted in 1732 in Germany, and German immigrants introduced the custom to America. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Black employee resource group put together the plans for this service.
Janice Canaday, a longtime resident of Williamsburg and part of the group planning this event (and a descendant of enslaved persons who lived in Williamsburg), says in the article “That’s what we really want here at Colonial Williamsburg, to let folks know that it’s a new dawn, a new day, a new sunrise, and a new experience here as to how we present the story of those people who were here – all of them – and how we address, embrace, and engage with the community.”
The article goes on to tell people about other local Juneteenth celebrations – at Jamestown Settlement, on the campus of William & Mary, at the library (which is hosting its 2nd annual Juneteenth Commemorative Art Exhibition, a parade in a local neighborhood, and in an athletic complex in nearby York county. On Monday, Colonial Williamsburg will offer free admission to honor Juneteenth.
Visitors to Williamsburg will always be able to tour the elegant homes and other historic buildings, observe tradesmen employing traditional crafts, ride in horse-drawn carriages, and listen to costumed interpreters representing the political elites of the era – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the like. But they will also have the opportunity to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of history as the CW Foundation takes the opportunity to show that the study of history is not static – that our understanding of it changes as new questions are asked about the past. We are all richer for this.
Yes, there are opportunities for growth and improvement for all of us, even in the most difficult moments. 😎