Tina Knowles-Lawson Says Daughters Beyonce and Solange Grew Up Celebrating Juneteenth

“When I was a child, ever since I could remember, we always celebrated Juneteenth. It was a day that you went to the beach.” She recounted her celebrating in Galveston, Texas, her hometown, and the place where federal troops arrived in 1865 to ensure all enslaved people were freed.

“When I got older, I was able to go to Houston to Emancipation Park, and they have big beautiful parades there,” she added. “We’ve always celebrated; it’s always been a very important holiday.”

Knowles-Lawson continued to say that she was surprised about people’s ignorance about the holiday’s existence when she moved to California.

“There’s a lot of history that’s kind of been hidden. And a big part of that is that there were by 1866, there were 19,000 black soldiers that fought for our freedom as well,” she said. “And I think that’s important for us to know because we’ve been told differently. And it’s just one more thing of how the vital part that we played in the history of this country and helping to build this country has been changed. Everyone needs to know the truth.”

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She also spoke about what it was like to raise her daughters Solange and Beyoncé.

“I absolutely always knew that it was an honor to be a Black person. This is what my parents taught me. We should have pride and just feel very honored by that,” she said.

“And so I was careful to impart that message to my children as well to surround them with African American art and images that they didn’t obviously see on TV or around as much as they should have.”

“That’s up to us parents to impart that knowledge to our children and pass it on. My kids celebrate the 19th of June. They always have, and they always will,” she added.