GALVESTON — It was her voice that caught their attention, sometimes honey like Billie Holiday, sometimes Ella Fitzgerald’s glass-shattering style. She could sing as sorrowful as a flute, happy as a drum.
But when Kijana Wiseman sang, boys whose thoughts were outside the pavilion, under cotton candy clouds, stopped fidgeting. Women with straw hats tapped their feet. Little girls, some with hair braided and beaded, swayed and hummed along to Sunday morning songs.
Wiseman calls herself “The Griot,” known in West Africa as a collector of memories and a lyrical teller of tales. The day before Juneteenth, the anniversary of the oldest known celebration of slavery’s end, she used her voice, songs and costumes to take her Kempner Park audience — some members as young as 5 — through a history of slaves, trackless trains and heart-rending sacrifice. Wiseman’s performance was one of several events Wednesday at Kemper Park, organized by the Galveston Historical Foundation Education Committee and the foundation’s African-American Committee.
The purpose of the events was to pass on the legacy of the Underground Railroad, which really wasn’t a railroad at all, but a line of ex-slaves, free African-Americans and whites who, under the most dangerous of conditions, helped slaves escape to freedom.
Among Kempner Park trees, event organizers took children through an imaginary slave escape route, where they met characters such as Harriet Tubman. Tubman, a woman born into slavery, escaped with the help of the railroad and later went on to help an estimated 300 people to freedom in the North. Nailed on trees were notices, one advertising a “choice cargo of 250 fine, healthy negroes.”
Heart-rending stories were eye-openers for audience members such as Londyn Crump, 10.
“I learned that slavery was harder than I thought it was,” Crump said. While organizers worked to use material that was appropriate for children, they also didn’t soften history.
Galveston actor and playwright Matt Stanford portrayed a slave who was captured in the African villages by slave traders while sleeping. He told the audience how slaves were torn from their families, marched through the jungles for days toward the coastline, jammed together in the bottom of ships and later paraded on a stage, humiliated as buyers examined their teeth, their legs, their muscles.
“That’s the experience of your ancestors,” Standford said.
With the rhythms of jazz, opera and gospel, Wiseman took the multi-cultural audience to a place in the woods, where slaves deceived their masters with song. Sometimes, spirituals were coded with messages about impending escape attempts, directions for how to head north on the Underground Railroad, or which houses were safe havens. Her voice deep and low, Wiseman sang:
“Go down Moses, way down in Egypt Land.
“Tell Old Pharaoh let my people go.”
Michael Kauffmann, 14, helped organize the event. What he found most interesting, he said, were the coded songs and other clues that helped slaves escape or warned they were being followed.
“They would set up signs,” Kauffmann said. “They would hang out a quilt with a wavy pattern on it that would tell them to go off the road, and not stay on track.”
Wiseman, who spent six years in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, ended her performance by throwing out $1 bills, causing children to squeal and dive for the money. They didn’t get to keep the money, but earned a lesson about freedom and making choices, particularly about avoiding drugs.
“Don’t lose your dignity and freedom for a dollar,” she said.
On June 19, 1865, a Union general landed in Galveston to tell of the Civil War’s end and that all slaves were free. It was 2 ½ years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
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Juneteenth Events
What: Juneteenth Emancipation Trail Ride. When: Ends today. Details: Covering areas from Brazoria, West Columbia and culminating in Galveston. This event is a two-week trail ride to benefit low-income, inner city, at risk, learning challenged or disabled youths ages 7-17 from across Southeast Texas. Call: Diane Sanders, (713) 686-7475 or visit houstonhorses(at)netzero.com.
What: Seventh annual Emancipation Proclamation reading and prayer breakfast. When: 8 a.m. today. Where: Ashton Villa, 2300 Broadway, Galveston. Details: A reading of the Emancipation Proclamation commemorating the historic event that took place in Galveston on June 19, 1865. Call: Douglas Matthews, (409) 772-8773.
What: Annual Juneteenth Jubilee parade and picnic. When: 11 a.m. today, parade and noon picnic. Where: March from 41st and Ball streets to Shields Park at 33rd and Church streets, Galveston. Call: Leon Phillips at (409) 762-7777, Barbara Gordon at (409) 599-8050 or Annie Mae Charles at (409) 762-5133.
What: Galveston County Coalition for Justice voters registration rally. When: 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today. Where: Shield Park, 33rd and Church streets, Galveston. Call: Leon Phillips, (409) 762-7777.
What: Fourth annual Gospel Explosion. When: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. Where: Menard Park, 2700 Seawall Blvd., Galveston. Call: Peter or Quinnette James at (409) 621-1414 or Rob Cahee at (409) 740-1144.
What: Annual march and prayer service. When: 6 p.m. today. Where: From Galveston Court House to Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church; 21st Street and Sealy Avenue (courthouse location). Reception to follow at Reedy Chapel AME Church, 2013 Broadway. Call: Diane Henderson, (409) 621-5007.
What: College of the Mainland’s Multi-Culture Team presents it second annual Juneteenth Celebration. When: Noon today. Where: COM Teaching Auditorium, L-131, 1200 Amburn Road, Texas City. Speakers: COM Professor Larry Smith will speak on the topic “Together We Have Made A Difference,” about the relationship between the college and Barbour’s Chapel Baptist Church in Texas City in the early days of the college’s history. The Rev. James Edward Brown Sr., pastor of Barbour’s Chapel Baptist Church, will speak on “What Is Freedom?” Special music will be performed by Barbour’s Chapel Mass Choir. Details: A Juneteenth luncheon will be served and the public is invited. Call: Tillie Henson at (409) 938-1211 or (888) 258-8859, Ext. 205.
What: Second annual Dickinson Ministerial Alliance Juneteenth Festival Parade. When: 8 a.m. Saturday. Where: Beginning at state Highway 3 and 19th Street in Dickinson. Details: Church groups, bands, bicycle riders, trail riders, drill teams, baseball, basketball and soccer teams may participate. There will be games and food. Participants should register in advance. Call: (409) 986-3163 or (281) 482-9384.
