Santa Ana’s Juneteenth Festival aims to educate and entertain

On Saturday, June 17, Santa Ana Parks & Recreation will partner with the Orange County Heritage Council to host the Santa Ana Juneteenth Festival at Centennial Regional Park.

“This is a communal effort to celebrate real American history that has changed our country,” said Santa Ana Councilman Johnathan Ryan Hernandez (Ward 5). “Juneteenth is a day that is often a day overlooked to talk about Fourth of July, when liberation for people of color started with Juneteenth.”

Juneteenth is a federal U.S. holiday that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans on June 19 when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced the end of the Civil War, which ended slavery in the U.S. under the terms of 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

“This year’s Juneteenth Festival will be a day filled with family-friendly fun for all ages,” said LaDonna Williams, a member of the Orange County Heritage Council.

The Orange County Heritage Council is a 501 (c) 3 organization dedicated to the Black community and developing events that encourage cultural interaction. The Orange County Heritage Council has organized the Orange County Black History Parade & Unity Fair during February’s Black History Month for more than 40 years and is taking on the Juneteenth event for the second time.

The free event will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Centennial Regional Park at 3000 W. Edinger Ave. in Santa Ana and will include a resource fair, car show, a kids zone with inflatable jumpers, a Black History Exhibit by Delta Sigma Theta, BBQ and other food vendors.

Santa Ana’s Juneteenth Festival is a free family-friendly event with live entertainment, food, guest speakers and kids’ activities.

(Hiram Uribe)

“This year we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, so we have artists from every genre and every stage of their career,” said Williams. “We have live performances from Talib Kweli, Brody Brown, DJ Battlecat, Cherrelle, A Lighter Shade of Brown, Francois Dean, Sistahs of Praise and more.”

While the second annual Juneteenth Festival aims to entertain, the event is also being billed as educating and empowering.

“The OCHC former president and former Santa Ana USD superintendent, Dr. DeVera Heard, is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta OC. We have partnered with them to present a Black history exhibit. The audio/visual displays will be showcasing artifacts, pictures and literature about our legacy, past and present,” said Williams.

Hernandez said the event also presents an opportunity to recognize Black members of the Orange County community who have made an impact on the county as a whole, like Dorothy Mulkey.

“Dorothy Mulkey, for people who are unaware, was a Santa Ana resident and a Black woman from our community who prevailed in a case over Prop. 14 in 1967,” said Hernandez.

In 1963, the Rumford Act made racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing illegal, but in Orange County, Proposition 14 aimed to overthrow the Rumford Act. Mulkey and her husband tried to rent an apartment in the city of Santa Ana but were denied by the landlord because they were Black. With the help of the ACLU and the O.C. Fair Housing Council, Mulkey and her husband challenged the landlord.

“She took the fight for fair housing all the way to the Supreme Court and she won,” Hernandez said.

In 1967, the court ruled in favor of the Mulkeys and declared Proposition 14 unconstitutional.

“She was one of the first cases where a resident challenged a local landlord based upon discrimination,” said Hernandez. “That is a woman that helped changed this country, and it‘s credit to her that I am now a homeowner.”

There are also plans to dedicate an intersection to the late Warren Bussey, a Santa Ana resident, business owner and mentor to other African Americans.

“We will be declaring an intersection to the oldest African American resident in Orange County’s history, Warren Bussey ,” said Hernandez. “He passed away last year at the age of 108.”

Williams said Santa Ana’s Juneteenth Festival promotes unity and builds self-esteem for members of the Black community and beyond, through reflection, education and acknowledgement of the progress and contributions made by African Americans. She hopes the Orange County Heritage Council can carry on its cultivation of cultural interaction.

“We look forward to continuing to build more events like this in the future,” said Williams.