JuneteenthICT features block party, lesson on Wichita’s Black baseball history

JuneteenthICT is in full swing this week as Wichitans come together to celebrate the Black community and commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S.

Thus far, Jayden Earl won this year’s JuneteenthICT pageant, which was held Friday at Wichita State, and the festival itself has several more upcoming community events.

“This is really an opportunity for us to be able to uplift our community,” said Ti’Juana Hardwell, marketing coordinator for the festival. “Not only do we acknowledge Juneteenth, but we’re able to embrace one another, come together, and that’s what I think is so special about it.”

Juneteenth traditionally marks the day — June 19, 1865 — that Gen. Gordon Granger led Union soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to demand that the community comply with President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which became official on Jan. 1, 1863.

Hardwell encouraged people who may be curious to come out and share in the celebration.

“What people can expect is an abundance of events that are family-friendly,” she said. “We also have some things that are for the older adults as well in terms of music, entertainment, comedy.”

Cocktail week runs through Sunday, as select Wichita restaurants and beverage purveyors offer special JuneteenthICT drinks.

Participating locations include the Monarch, Jenny Dawn Cellars, The Kitchen, Reverie Coffee Roasters, Public At the Brickyard, The Anchor, Fleur De Vin, Vora and Reverie Coffee Roasters.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Juneteenth scholarship pageant, which supports Black youth seeking post-secondary education.

The CORE Garden Block Party will be held from 5-7 p.m. at the Robin Rounds Memorial Garden located at 1121 N Green St. On top of food and music, the party will provide an opportunity for people to learn about local community gardens and efforts to address food disparities in northeast Wichita.

“I do believe that this block party will be able to shed some light on the fact that it exists, and ways that people can contribute,” Hardwell said. “CORE very much relies on volunteers in order to keep that going, and so in order to maintain that garden, there’s lots of work that has to be done.”

On Thursday, the Kansas African American Museum will feature WSU history professor and baseball expert John E. Dreifort, who will regale the audience with tales of the Wichita Monrovians, the local Black team that once squared off against Wichita’s Ku Klux Klan #6 in a 1925 game.

The virtual talk, which runs from noon to 1 p.m., will be livestreamed on the museum’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Hardwell said now is a critical time to celebrate and show solidarity with Wichita’s Black community.

“If you reflect now on everything that’s happened in recent years, we have more reason to come together as Black people and as a community supporting Black people,” Hardwell said. “We have more reason now than ever, I believe.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2021 at 2:49 PM.