By Robin Montgomery and Ruben Borjas Jr
At a time when we are celebrating our 250th year as an Independent Nation, a most dramatic component of that phenomenon found expression in Montgomery on Friday June 19th. This was a Community Celebration of “Juneteenth” in remembrance of the news of African American Liberation announced at Galveston Island on June 19th, 1865. Filled to a standing room only audience was Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church. Saying it all was the cover of the program booklet: “Still We Rise, Break Every Chain. Pushed by our Past, Driven to our Future!”
Numerous were the highlights, starting with the scintillating opening remarks of Ann Wilkerson stimulating the assembly. Embellishing the grand excitement, noted singer Melania Jackson thrilled the audience with one of her two numbers of the event.
Including an interlude by Montgomery Mayor, Sara Countryman, the grand journey of the African American along the mighty freedom trail found memory in the event. Among other speakers were Dr. La Toyia Stewart, Anthony Noriega from Texas and Beyond and Arnete Easley.
Among other key players in the grand drama were Pastor Greg Deveraux and Montgomery Historical Society Member, T.J. Wilkerson. The pastor found expression both in word and song, as, with grand emotion of delivery, he expressed the tone of salvation in the liberation form and style. Along the way, TJ was also the moderator and a major coordinator of the whole event including the exquisite program booklet.
As a spectator, exhilarating was the experience of this writer on becoming enthralled with the tone and demeanor of the assemblage. Here, in the grandest form, dynamics of the whole freedom movement of the United States came into focus. Perhaps my major impression lay in the magnanimity of the dominantly African American gathering. Exhibited was only rejoicing and gratefulness for the opportunity of living in the grandest nation of all time. Though trials of slavery
found expression, the emphasis was on victory.
Here, then, the true impact of the historical freedom movement of our history found expression. Though the battle for African American freedom still lingers to an extent, optimism characterized this event. While more battle-worn than any segment of our society, here enthusiasm reigned.
In Montgomery, Texas on June 19th, 2026, the Christian based concept of virtue linked to our Declaration of Independence and expressly voiced by the architects of that document, found its fullest expression.
The following day in Conroe, The Heritage Museum of Montgomery County teamed up with The Players Theatre Company in Conroe, in hosting a special Juneteenth presentation of the Texas Underground Railroad; a wonderful idea conceived by Montgomery County educator Whitney Shelton. The original work was researched, written, and performed by Shelton, playing the part of an enslaved woman, Cora, who learns from an enslaved man, Louis, played by Mike Hayles; that they were freed on Juneteenth at the Greenwood Plantation in Danville, now Willis. Ms. Shelton, herself a Greenwood descendant, learned of her family heritage from remaining records of the plantation held at The Heritage Museum. It’s a fascinating story and a true day of celebration, a day of remembrance, and some will say, ‘A Day of Jubilee.’
The audience learned through other scenes, of how the enslaved fled south to Mexico, where they were protected by the Mexican government, and that one village on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border, Nacimiento de los Negros, was established by freed slaves in Coahuila, by mostly Black Seminoles. There was also a scene with a white couple that assisted the enslaved escape along a river.
Even after freedom, former owners of the enslaved paid their former property to work on the plantation, $8 per month as was recorded at the Greenwood Plantation, and while some left the plantation, a good number stayed.
Ms. Shelton will be presenting other works later this year, and into 2027, showing the struggles of the enslaved in Montgomery County, and highlights an important part of the history of Texas that deserves to be shared and remembered.
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Publisher: Community