Juneteenth and the Lambda Awards!

This book is a natural place to start, especially since it came out about a month before Juneteenth became a federal holiday. In it, Reed details the history of Juneteenth— what led up to it and what came after. I love it when historical topics get a more personal treatment, and here, Reed includes her personal ties to the holiday as a native Texan. She reckons with the white male identity that a lot of Texas projects to the rest of the country, showing instead how diverse Texas is and how much non white men have contributed to its— and the rest of America’s— history.

A part from both being key moments in American history, the Tulsa Massacre and Juneteenth have a few things in common. For one, they both took place in June. Secondly, and maybe most importantly, they were two moments in U.S. history concerning the treatment of Black people that have largely been ignored until recent years.

Angel of Greenwood is a historical YA novel that follows two characters that kind of represent two of the major schools of thought regarding Black progress. Sixteen-year-old Angel is a quiet church girl who thinks that Booker T. Washington’s idea of tolerance and slow growth without conflict is best for Black people. This is contrasted against Seventeen-year-old Isaiah’s belief that Black people should rise up and take their place alongside white people, which originated with W.E.B. Du Bois. The two kids are thrown together once their teacher recruits them to work in her mobile library, but their entire lives are irrevocably changed once a violent white mob descends on their town on May 31, 1921.

This is one those historical novels that we need more of. While it takes place in New York City during the Reconstruction Era— which is right after Juneteenth— its portrayal of Black life isn’t mired in slavery and ill treatment. While these things are of course understandably present in stories about Black people during this time, it gets tiring when that’s the only narrative offered. Here, Libertie Sampson was born free in Brooklyn and lives with her mother, one of the only Black women practicing as a doctor. Her mother has a plan for Liberty to follow in her footsteps by becoming a doctor and practicing alongside her. Libertie has her own ideas, though, preferring the arts to science. She accepts a proposal by a young Haitian doctor, who promises she’ll be his equal in Haiti, but tests determine that was a lie. I would have been beyond tight after traveling all that way to Haiti to discover everything was a sham.

Libertie is in a constant quest to discover what freedom means for her as she navigates the gender discrimination and racism of the world at large, as well as the classism and colorism present in her own community. Plus, Roxane Gay gave this five stars on Goodreads, so there’s that.