To invigorate Juneteenth in L.A., Jonathan Leonard, a military veteran, longtime postal employee, firefighter and entrepreneur, started hosting barbecues in his backyard on June 19, 1949.
“Why is everyone going to work? Why are the banks open?’” Jonathan Leonard recalled in a 1997 Times interview about the first June 19, or “Juneteenth,” he spent in Los Angeles after moving from Houston in 1948.
In the late 1890s, African Americans in Pasadena marked the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1. By 1910, Angelenos were celebrating emancipation on June 19, but media accounts of those celebrations make no mention of the word “Juneteenth.” By the 1930s, annual Juneteenth picnics were a regular feature of African American life in Los Angeles, but the celebrations were on a small scale — so much so that Texas migrants who settled in L.A.
Communities outside Texas usually owe their Juneteenth traditions to a passionate Texan who arrived and kick-started the festivities. For Los Angeles, that Texas native was Leonard. He died in 2017, but others in the city are keeping the tradition alive and vital.“I grew up in Compton, but I looked forward to going home to visit my grandmother in Texas during Juneteenth.
The type of barbecue served on Juneteenth is usually chicken, chopped pork, pork spareribs and hot links, a spicy, coarsely ground, encased sausage of pork, beef or a mix. Some cooks might add brisket, goat, opossum with sweet potatoes or cook an entire pig for the occasion. Of the latter, Bludso recalls, “I remember them digging a hole in the ground and cooking a whole pig that way.
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