© 2025 WHRO Public Media
5200 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk VA 23508
757.889.9400 | info@whro.org
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Juneteenth Celebrated on Another View

emedia juneteenth1200

It was January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the enslaved people in the United States free. But it was two years later on June 19th, 1865, before the enslaved living in Texas got the news. The first Juneteenth celebration was held one year later-June 19, 1866. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 when President Biden signed it into law. WHRO celebrated with food, history, storytelling and fun. Storyteller Amy Johnson joined host Barbara Hamm Lee in the studio while Producer Lisa Godley was in the WHRO parking lot with food truck vendors and historian Dr. Derrick Lanois and Rel Dowell and Fatima Cortez-Todd with the Virginia Black Film Festival. The WHRO lot was packed with people enjoying a great day of celebration for Juneteenth and a live presentation of Another View. If you missed it, you can catch this and all Another View programs on-demand on the show's program page.

Barry Graham used to arrive at WHRO with a briefcase full of papers and lesson plans. For 32 years he taught US and Virginia Government in the Virginia Beach Public Schools. While teaching was always his first love, radio was a close second. While attending Old Dominion, Barry was program director at WODU, the college radio station. After graduating, he came to WHRO as an overnight announcer. Originally intending to stay on only while completing graduate school, he was soon hooked on Public Radio and today is the senior announcer on WHRV. In 2001, Barry earned his Ph.D in Urban Studies by writing a history of WHRO and analyzing its impact upon local education, policy and cultural arts organizations.