Juneteenth U.S.A. 2022 at Black Miners Bar

by Thomas Stratton, CALPA Board Member

Our Juneteenth National Independence Day began at Negro Bar Folsom Lake State Recreation Area the morning of June 18. For Juneteenth U.S.A., this brought a year’s planning to fruition. Upon arrival at the Negro Bar Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, shortly after 7:00 am, a state park employee positioned a ladder near the entry sign. By evening, with a sense of future prosperity, I stopped to photograph a newly painted sign that read Black Miners Bar.

The significance of this Juneteenth, a newly designated federal holiday, resides in change for those of us fortunate to work within California State Parks. And while Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom, suggests past events, our focus is fixed on the future of the place, Black Miners Bar.

For years, I celebrated Juneteenth in a state park, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. Yet I sense the power of this year’s Juneteenth emerging from this place now temporarily called Black Miners Bar. Even the place name speaks to the future as it may change, while the California African American Museum conducts a year of historical research to arrive at a permanent name. More broadly, my anticipation rests with preserving and interpreting for the public stories of freedom-seeking Black gold miners who migrated West and settled on the banks of the American River to pull from the earth prosperity represented by gold. Another instance of El Dorado in what was to become the state of California in 1850.

Juneteenth U.S.A. is a future-focused organization poised to preserve California’s gold rush history. We recognize an opportunity to educate visitors to Black Miners Bar about the contributions of people of African descent to our state’s gold rush. We view the name change as an initial step in developing interpretive installations for visitors that will retell the story of California’s Black Pioneers.