Woman takes on the teaching of black history

When Barbara Junious learned that black history was not being taught in California schools, she took up the slack, first by educating her own grandchildren and then by holding classes for the public twice a month. She aimed to teach more than the Rev. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

Most recently, to expand the understanding of black history, Junious decided to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the ending of slavery in the United States. She organized a Juneteenth Celebration on June 27 at Huntington Beach Central Park. Festivities included barbecue, hot links, soul food, dancing, African drumming, singing and storytellers.

The date is based on the understanding that although many people believe slavery ended in the U.S. when Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, many slaves weren’t freed until later when the news was delivered to their towns. The last of those enslaved in the American Southwest were freed June 19, 1865, when a U.S. general read the executive order in Galveston, Texas.

“If you didn’t live it, nobody knew about it, and if you told, you could end up killed,” Junious said of racial discrimination. “Between my learning and living, I thought, ‘Let me do something about it and teach people.’”

Junious asked the Huntington Beach City Council for the space she needed to hold free classes for district students.

The city agreed and offered space at Michael E. Rodgers Seniors’ Center.

Since June of last year, Junious and former history professor Bea Jones have taught black history to groups of about eight to 10 people of various ages and ethnic backgrounds twice a month at the center.

Topics range from the history of black men and women veterans to black colleges and universities.

Readings and lectures focus on selected individuals who have shaped or been shaped by struggles for freedom and justice. In addition to lectures, students conduct research projects and take periodic quizzes and exams.

Junious, 79, said she had little knowledge of black history but plenty of stories about growing up black in rural central Tennessee.

Having lived on a farm from the 1930s through the 1950s, Junious remembered facing Jim Crow laws, particularly when she and friends were segregated into a one-room schoolhouse lit by gas lamps. When she entered seventh grade, she and her classmates were told to teach first- and second-grade students. After school, she killed chickens, raised crops and churned butter.

“My grandkids said, ‘Grandma, folks didn’t do that,’” Junious said in the Huntington Beach home she and her husband of 42 years, Ernie, have lived in since 1980. “And I said, ‘Yes, they did. I know it.’

“I reunderstood the prejudice that was going on back during my day, and I knew then I was going to teach the children their history.”

That is when she and friend Jones, a historian who studied at Northeastern University, began to teach “Learning Black History” out of Junious’ garage.

The move to the senior center has been good, but Junious said she and Jones are seeking a building where they can hold classes two to three times a week for students who commute from a number of cities, including Anaheim, Santa Ana and Inglewood.

Junious, who has eight children, nine grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, said the history classes are specifically held for a new generation, to discuss the difficulties, heroes and achievements of the nation’s past.

“I just want to be able to see the kids learn,” Junious said. “To me, it’s just a fun place, and the more you learn, the more you like it.”

For more information, visit learningblackhistory.com