HOUSTON — As we mark another year of Juneteenth celebrations, KHOU 11 presents "Juneteenth 1865-2024: A Legacy of Song," a documentary special that delves into the legacy of this historic day through the lens of music. Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Africans, has a deep-rooted connection with music, a universal language that has carried the stories, struggles, and triumphs of Black communities for generations.
In this special, viewers will journey through the sounds that have defined and redefined Black culture from 1865 to today. Contributors such as Sam Collins, a passionate historian and advocate for the Juneteenth Legacy Project, and Dr. Tyina Steptoe, a Houston-born professor whose research intertwines race, culture, and music, offer their unique perspectives on how Juneteenth has shaped and been shaped by the musical heritage of African Americans. Alongside them, Naomi Mitchell Carrier, Ernest Walker, Michael Harris, Paris Eley, and Houston rap legend Bun B share their experiences and insights, illustrating the powerful role of music in the ongoing story of freedom and equality.
Here's more about each of them.
Sam Collins
Sam Collins is a local historian and businessman dedicated to researching and lecturing on the slave trade, Emancipation, and Texas history. He co-chairs the Juneteenth Legacy Project and champions the creation of an International Juneteenth Museum in Galveston, the birthplace of Juneteenth.
Sam played a pivotal role in advocating for the presidential pardon of Jack Johnson, the famed Jim Crow-era boxer known as “The Galveston Giant.” He was also a major proponent of the Absolute Equality Mural located in Galveston’s historic Strand District.
He works with the N.I.A. Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization and art space in Galveston, which provides historical resources, educational programs, art exhibitions, and special events to engage the community.
Sam is a familiar face in the Juneteenth documentary special. He has appeared in each installment since 2021.
Dr. Tyina Steptoe
Dr. Tyina Steptoe is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Arizona. She writes and teaches about race, gender, and culture. Professor Steptoe is also a native Houstonian with a deep passion for the community and its history, especially music spanning genres from early African percussion music to blues, rock, jazz and hip hop.
Her acclaimed book, Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City has received several prestigious awards. It explores complex race relations between the 1920s -1960s. It also highlights how interactions among these communities fostered Houston’s progressive blues and jazz artists and created hybrid music forms that shaped the cultural and political landscape.
Professor Steptoe is a wonderful resource and co-collaborator to the producers of the Juneteenth documentary special along with other specially curated content. In addition to appearing in previous installments of the Juneteenth documentary, she can also be seen in a feature about Frenchtown and Zydeco music with KHOU 11’s Mia Gradney.
Naomi Mitchell Carrier
Naomi Mitchell-Carrier is a native Texan, author, composer, actress and playwright. Mitchell-Carrier has been a student of music and a music teacher for most of her life. She’s also a pianist who began learning at age three from her mother.
Mitchell-Carrier uses music to educate audiences about black history in Texas. She authored “Go Down, Old Hannah: The Living History of African American Texans.” The book is a collection of 15 living plays covering everything from slavery to the Civil War, Emancipation, and reconstruction. Other celebrated works include “I Am Annie Mae the Musical.”
Mitchell-Carrier is also a historian. She secured a Texas Historical marker for her parents Marshall and Melinda Mitchell and opened the Mitchell Museum in her childhood Lavaca County home featuring the family piano. Mitchell-Carrier also holds a substantial collection of posters featuring the worldwide travels and appeal of the legendary B.B. King Band in which her late husband, Eugene Carrier, was a keyboardist.
Ernest Walker
Ernest Walker has come full circle as a radio station executive and musician. He has been at the forefront of music since he was a child starting as a young member of the family Gospel Group, The Walker Brothers.
Ernest plays the drums and has traveled the world performing with major acts. He has been the producer and director for recording artists Chante Moore, Kirk Whalum, Al Jarreau, Regina Belle, the late Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones and many other musical stars.
In 2016, Walker joined Texas Southern University where he serves as the general manager of KTSU -FM 90.9 Radio. It’s where it all started for him. Walker says KTSU was the first radio station to ever play the Walker Brothers’ music.
Michael Harris
Michael Harris is the longest-running continuous radio talk show host in Houston. He has worked with legendary KCOH Radio since 1975. KCOH is the oldest black-formatted station in Texas. For years, the radio station was located in Third Ward along Almeda and known for its “looking glass” studio with its massive windows. People passing by could peer inside the DJ booth and see Harris hard at work. Harris is a Texas Radio Hall of Fame member (2019).
Paris Eley
Paris Eley is a longtime music executive and on-air personality. Currently, Eley is the station manager at 1230 KCOH The Source. His experience spans decades of interactions with some of music’s biggest acts including music icons Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Boys to Men, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Eley is the former Senior Vice President of Marketing and Promotions at Motown. He also worked at Sony Music Entertainment and Epic Records.
Bun B
Rapper Bun B is a Houston rap legend and savvy businessman. While still performing to sold-out crowds he has expanded his entrepreneurial endeavors, most notably his burger business, Trill Burger.
His Takeover concerts at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo continue to draw record crowds while featuring his talented and popular friends like rapper Drake and singer Erykah Badu.
Bun’s other pursuits include higher education. He served as a distinguished visiting lecturer in religious studies to co-teach a religion and hip-hop culture course at Rice University.
Bun B is a two-time Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist and launched his career as part of the rap duo U.G.K. (Underground Kings) from his native Port Arthur, Texas.