Juneteenth
The Cadman Park Conservancy celebrates the Juneteenth annual celebration of emancipation from slavery in the United States. By planting Cadman Plaza Park's Juneteenth Grove, NYC Parks recognized the need to be active agents for change, progress, and equity.
To acknowledge the second annual Juneteenth Federal Holiday the Conservancy is offering a poem from acclaimed poet Jacqueline Johnson.
Inheritance
“I am the daughter of Henrietta, who was the
daughter of Hannah, who was the daughter of Rose
who was a daughter of the Cherokee Nation people.
Daughters who made education their way out of no way.
Women who spoke in proverbs, song and cloth.
Women who lived, taught and nurtured the generations.
Hannah, known as mother of mothers, with her own nine
children and twenty-seven foster children for whom
she provided sanctuary and love in this world.
I am from Patricia and Gloria both daughters
of Henrietta. Warrior women of the Civil Rights
Movement, who taught and rescued the children
of heroin, neglect and abuse. Women who saved
the lives of someone else’s son or daughter.
I am from women who insisted on Sunday school
and church, who insisted on piano lessons, and dance
classes, and lessons in service, and exposure to art,
music and culture. I am from women who believed
in molding a child and teaching values to last a lifetime.
I come from women who wrapped money into
the corners of flower-patterned handkerchiefs.
I come from women who wove sweet grass baskets.
Women who walked under sudden sun showers.
I come from grandmothers who covered
their granddaughters in long midi dresses,
hoping to camouflage and distract the sea
of grown men aware of their new beauty.
Women who praised and thanked God
every day for everything, who knew
hunger intimately. Women who knew
how to wrench sorrow from a young girl’s soul.
To enchant the heart with the sweetness of life.
Women who knew how to make
something out of themselves.
How to turn nothing into a lifetime of gifts.”
photo credit: Angie Vasquez