UBE Arizona Juneteenth “Fanout Fanfare”!
With members across the state, UBE Arizona set out this year to mark Juneteenth by fanning out and taking part in the variety of wonderful commemoration and celebration activities in our own areas - and beyond!
UBE Arizona member The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, Historiographer of The Episcopal Church, took the prize for fanning out the farthest: She took part in the outdoor, family-friendly Juneteenth picnic celebration on the Pulpit Green at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City!
Also observing Juneteenth outside the state, member The Rev. Monica Whitaker honored the day with friends and family at the Albuquerque Museum’s Juneteenth kick-off event in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rev. Monica and her group enjoyed awesome live music, a pop-up market, and a crafts table. They also met some fabric artists, and Rev. Monica came home with some truly beautiful Nigerian wax fabric. Capping off their celebration, they attended a Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass concert!
Closer to home, members Canon Alex Leonard, Canon for Justice for The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona; Marsha Calloway; Dr. Marg Schmidt; Dr. Elsie Szecsy; and Susan Tuttle attended the Phoenix Museum of Art’s celebration “in collaboration with Black Rodeo USA Foundation and The Valley of the Sun Juneteenth Celebration.” (www.phxart.org). A highlight of their time at the museum was filming a “Dear Tomorrow” video, expressing the group’s hopes for the future as part of a special Juneteenth interactive exhibit activity of The Open Lens/Made in Her Image, “an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to advancing young women and non-binary youth of color in the film, media, and entertainment industries.” (www.madeinherimage.org)
A week later, Marsha Calloway, Dr. Marg Schmidt, and Dr. Elsie Szecsy also made their way to the Tempe History Museum’s (https://tempehistory.org/museum/) celebration, which featured a very moving rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Prime Society (https://prmrcds.com/about), as well as an array of wonderful vendors and exhibitors, like Family Tree Healthcare, an organization UBE Arizona has proudly supported, that is “dedicated to fostering a healthy, thriving inner city by delivering comprehensive and culturally sensitive care to all, regardless of their socioeconomic status.” (https://www.familytreehealthcare.com/). Sporting their UBE Arizona red t-shirts, our members drew the attention of a number of their fellow attendees, some who had seen the shirts before and stopped to say they recognized UBE Arizona, and others who hadn’t and were prompted to ask about us!
UBE Arizona is grateful to all the organizations and people across our state and nation who planned, hosted, and attended events like these in commemoration and celebration of this important event in our history.
