How Juneteenth celebrations are helping Kansas Citians ‘stay connected with our past’

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For many, pulling off a pageant, parade and massive festival filling all the streets and green space of Kansas City’s Historic 18th and Vine District would be a monumental task.

For Makeda Peterson, it’s a birthright.

For Peterson, organizing and directing Kansas City’s annual Juneteenth celebration each year is a continuation of the work that her father, Horace Peterson, dedicated himself to until the day he died in 1992. Horace Peterson was the one who started and developed the idea of Black Kansas City coming together to commemorate Juneteenth with a parade and community celebration.

“Since my father died this is my way to have a connection to him and his legacy,” said Peterson, an event coordinator and the owner of Legacy LLC. “This is my way of giving back and staying connected to my community while continuing his work here with Juneteenth.”

Juneteenth, officially celebrated on June 19, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States with the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. As a celebration, it had humble beginnings, with Black Americans coming together for cookouts and block parties. It became a national holiday in 2021.

In Kansas City, the tradition has expanded to include a month of events in the Jazz District that celebrate Black culture. This year, the 13th Annual JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival will be on June 15. There will be local and national musical acts, 75 Black-owned vendors and several food trucks. Kelly Price, a nine-time Grammy Award nominated R&B and gospel singer, is scheduled to deliver the highlight performance of the evening.

The festival is giving some local artists their first taste of performing in front of thousands of people. With many looking to book a coveted spot in the main stage lineup, acts must come with their best.

Crowning a queen

The celebrating actually got underway on May 18 with the Third Annual Miss JuneteenthKC Pageant.

Most of the 23 contestants — Black girls ages 12 to 18 from all parts of the Kansas City metro — had little or no experience with pageants. During the 10-week training process they learned there’s a lot more to it than smiling on stage in a pretty dress.

“This was a project that was brought to our organization as something the community really wanted to see,” Peterson said. “We just acknowledged the need and how this kind of thing could really provide support to another audience that we don’t really get to address.”

In the early days of Juneteenth, when Peterson’s father was organizing the event, there was an adult pageant. But it faded away after he died. Peterson was happy to revive the pageant and rededicate it to young Black women to help teach skills they might not come across normally, like performing in front of a crowd, public speaking and presenting themselves.

The pageant is split into two categories — Miss Junior Juneteenth (ages 12 to 15) and Miss Juneteenth (ages 16 to 18).

It’s a competition, but a friendly one. The young ladies are quick to help one another hone their skills on stage. Bonds are built among contestants who, if not for the pageant, might not have met. That is one of the best parts of the experience for Peterson.

During each week of practice, Peterson set up a workshop aimed at providing skill-building exercises that helped pageant contestants build confidence and improve their social skills. Peterson also took contestants on a tour of City Hall with Mayor Quinton Lucas, to an etiquette brunch with Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, to see a dance performance by the Friends of Alvin Ailey, and more.

“We wanted to touch on topics that needed to be addressed with young ladies that we saw were not getting focused on,” Peterson said. “It really is a feel-good program, because there is really a difference when you see the girls come in timid or shy and not really sure of themselves, and then really seeing them growing confident and finding out who they are.”

The competition was broken into portions: fun fashion, evening gown, talent and on-stage questions. During the two and a half months of practices, the girls learned everything from walking in heels, public speaking, dance routines, how to style their hair and do their makeup.

One young contestant who returned to compete for her second year in the Miss Junior Juneteenth category was Zoe Thomas, 13, who attends Lincoln College Preparatory Academy. Her mother, a member of the Juneteenth planning committee, approached her daughter with the idea, and Thomas thought it would be the perfect opportunity to live out a lifelong dream.

“What made me want to participate in the Miss Juneteenth Pageant is I always wanted to be a princess since I was younger,” Thomas said. “To be dressed up and have the makeup on while also being accepting to me and other girls like me.”

She was excited to return this year and continue to learn and grow through the pageant. She said she’s already learned a lot from the pageant that she uses in her everyday life.

“The most difficult for me was the on-stage questions, because getting in front of a lot of people I get a little nervous and I am working on that. But I think it will be a good experience for me to learn how to talk in front of a big group of people,” the seventh-grader said.

As someone who has grown up with a parent who taught her the importance of celebrating Juneteenth, Thomas is happy she’s involved through the pageant. For years she has enjoyed watching the floats and the drill teams pass through the Historic Jazz District, filled every year with people watching the Juneteenth Cultural Parade. And whoever is crowned Miss Junior Juneteenth gets to be part of the parade.

A parade and jubilee

The parade, held this year on June 1, started out with a few organizations and car clubs. It has grown over the past seven years into a event with dozens of drill teams, fraternities, sororities and community figures coming together for the procession.

“Each year for the parade we try to bring in a guest act to create cultural experiences that highlight African pride and our roots,” Peterson said.

This year’s special guest performers were Zulu Connection Stilt Dancers from New Orleans. The group uses traditional African costumes, drumming, and dancing while performing on stilts in the streets along the parade route.

Kansas City community leader Alvin Brooks was chosen as Mr. Juneteenth this year to honor his many decades of activism and public service.

Brooks, 92, a former police officer, said he is happy to see the growth that the holiday has had over his lifetime. He recalled how he had a run-in with Kansas City’s Juneteenth founder, Horace Peterson, when Peterson was a boy.

“I caught him when I was working off duty at a grocery store and he stole a PayDay candy bar,” said Brooks, who helped form the AdHoc Group Against Crime in 1977. “I knew his mother, Ms. Blackwell, so I walked him up the street to his mom and she whooped his butt.”

Brooks said that every time he saw Peterson, as an adult, he always credited that moment for setting him on the right path. The community leader said that watching Peterson come up with the idea for what would become the Black Archives of Mid-America and develop Juneteenth was something that brought him joy. He remembers how in those first years the parade was small and intimate. Now it draws people from all around the Kansas City area.

“It started off slow because it was new, but it gained momentum and Horace struck a chord with what people wanted here with Juneteenth,” Brooks said. “People got into it and started to realize the cultural advantages of it —to celebrate and commemorate and memorialize what came before us.”

Brooks thinks that even with the growth of the holiday, it still is nowhere near the level it should be. Much like our Fourth of July celebrations signifying the birth of our country, for Black Americans Juneteenth represents a rebirth and a big step toward the country fulfilling the promise of freedom for all.

“I think our people should always come out to make this a day of celebration as I imagine it was for our ancestors on the first Juneteenth day in Texas,” Brooks said. “We should be as jubilant as them that we as a country have risen above slavery.”

A chance to get noticed

Carlton McCormick, a Kansas City native and local singer, considers himself lucky to have landed a 15-minute set in the Juneteenth entertainment lineup. McCormick said he believes that getting on the Juneteenth stage could do a lot to boost his name recognition.

“I am excited to share my gift and put myself on stage and sing to people who may not have ever heard me before,” McCormick said. “I have been in contact with the promoters for Juneteenth for a while now, and I was finally able to get the opportunity, and I am really happy to be able to be one of the acts.”

McCormick, a graduate of Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, has been singing since he was a small child. Starting off in church, McCormick grew to love the feeling of being in front of a crowd.

He has been recording his own music for the past 10 years and is ecstatic that now he will be performing in the same lineup as Kelly Price, a celebrity hero of his.

“I am elated because I have loved Kelly Price since I was a child,” the 29-year-old singer said. “To me, she was just someone with this amazing voice who had this tone, range and style that seemed so effortless.”

McCormick plans on performing a medley of songs ranging from a few covers to one of his older original pieces and some newly recorded tracks like his new single “Love You,” released earlier this year.

As a local singer, it’s hugely important to McCormick that he deliver a great performance — the whole community will be watching. But also, performing at this event in particular is important to him because of what the holiday signifies. He believes that people should treat the day with reverence.

“When you know your history, you are able to learn and grow. And we have to remember where we come from and how far we have come. And Juneteenth is about that progress,” McCormick said.

Black-owned businesses

Trish Mitchell, owner of Ish Eyewear, goes to upwards of 30 vendor events each year, but she says Juneteenth is easily one of the biggest annual events she attends. For the past three years, Mitchell has staffed a booth at the festival and thinks the event is one of the most important for Black entrepreneurs in the metro looking to expand their clientele and make connections.

“This event allows you to come face-to-face with thousands of potential customers,” Mitchell said. “Being able to talk to people about your products and letting them get to know you is how I was able to extend my customer base.”

On top of the sales connections made, Mitchell said she is always happy to see residents of all racial backgrounds enjoying the celebration.

“Each year I see more people of different races at the event and it lets me know it is growing,” she said.

Mitchell knew from an early age that a routine nine-to-five job did not interest her. She started a series of businesses over the years, including her eyewear line and All Black Everything magazine. She also has a fragrance line and writes her own stage plays.

Mitchell said there seems to be an increase in Black-owned businesses in Kansas City, and the exposure some small Black business owners are getting at events like Juneteenth could be behind that. There’s also a renewed sense of community that comes with cultural events like Juneteenth and 816 Day, she said.

“It’s super important, to me, to have these opportunities to form these relationships with vendors I may have never met,” she said. “We are able to congregate and make these connections with one another centered around encouraging and motivating people to shop local and shop Black.”

Mitchell thinks the imagery of Black businesses filling the Jazz District is a powerful statement to those who may be thinking of going into entrepreneurship. She said she is inspired each year by the number of Black businesses that are growing and thriving based on local vendor events, and she hopes that others will follow their passions like she did to gain a sense of independence and do something they love.

Peterson hopes this year’s parade and festival will see the largest numbers to date. Though the process of getting the events together is long and time-consuming, Peterson is thankful for the opportunity to uphold and continue the work her father started all those years ago.

“This has grown so much over the years, and I am so thankful for the community and organizations who have contributed,” Peterson said. “This is a celebration of history, community and heritage that we as a people have to keep alive to stay connected with our past.”

Other Juneteenth events

• Downtown Overland Park Juneteenth Celebration, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 15 at Thompson Park, 8045 Santa Fe Drive.

• Juneteenth Celebration 2024, 4 to 8:30 p.m. June 15 at Harmon Park, West 77th Place and Delmar Street, Prairie Village.

• Rise and Shine Workout, 9 to 11 a.m. June 15 at the Negro League Baseball Museum, 1616 E. 18th St.

• Brothers Liberating Our Community Juneteenth Freedom Celebration, 7 to 9 p.m. June 19 at Corrigan Station, 1828 Walnut St.

• Juneteenth in Independence, June 19 at the Independence Uptown Market, 211 W. Truman Road. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II will speak at 11 a.m.

• Nelson-Atkins Juneteenth Celebration, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 20, 4525 Oak St.