Alliah L. Agostini - The Juneteenth Story

Congratulations on your debut book, The Juneteenth Story! Please give us a brief summary of the book. 

Thank you! The Juneteenth Story is a picture book highlighting the events and circumstances that led to the day that came to be known as Juneteenth, and follows the progression of Juneteenth until it became a national holiday in June 2021.

The Juneteenth Story starts with the position and treatment of Black people in the United States starting in the 18th century until present day. What was your research like for this project? What tools did you rely on and how did you organize it all? 

Based on previous knowledge, I had a loose outline of how I envisioned the book flowing and started filling in some of the blanks with whatever information I could get my hands on. I learned so much, but of course, I couldn’t include everything. 

I was conducting research during the pandemic, so most of what I did was through resources I accessed online and through my local library. But I found so many treasure troves of information, especially some excellent primary sources. These included the Library of Congress’ recordings of interviews with formerly enslaved people, articles, interviews, and video clips of Juneteenth celebrations throughout the country, and even news articles from Texas shortly after Emancipation Celebration. This information and more helped create a more nuanced narrative than I could have imagined. 
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From a tools perspective, I keep it simple. I’ve been a Google Docs girl since it launched. I found it to be the easiest thing to use to build out my outline, keep facts and sources organized, and to work on the book on multiple devices. For digital resources, especially, it was nice to be able to link directly to the source in case I needed to go back for additional context. 

The book is formatted in a present/ past manner with a modern Black family learning about Juneteenth with illustrations and historical information to match. Did you set out to write The Juneteenth Story that way or did it organically flow into this version? 
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I didn’t initially set out to do it this way, but my editor and I were talking about using a visual device to keep kids connected to the story since it does take a number of twists and turns throughout.  One idea was to put a little girl and her grandparents talking about Juneteenth into the illustration- and for those folks to be inspired by me and my family. 

I was excited about the possibility, and my grandfather ultimately was, too! Unfortunately my grandmother passed away in 2015, but my grandfather is 90 years old and sharp as a tack. I provided some older photos of us that were then used to inspire the illustrations. 

My grandfather was surprised at how well Sawyer captured his essence, and my absolute favorite illustration of my grandmother is the one in the author’s note where she’s wearing a beautiful green dress. Plus, Sawyer’s kids are always adorable, so I’m honored little Alliah and her giant pigtails received the Sawyer Cloud treatment.

Did you uncover any surprising facts during your research for A Juneteenth Story, especially anything you wanted to include in your book but couldn’t? 
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Oh so many. I had limited space, so I couldn’t share all I learned, but here are some of the most fascinating.

1. People typically use 1619 as the marker of the beginning of the slave trade in America, but the first attempt to enslave African people in America ended in a coup! The Spanish attempted to build a colony on the land that is now near the coastal South Carolina/Georgia border. But in a matter of weeks the colony was swept by disease and some of the abductees revolted and escaped. There’s some speculation, but little known about what happened to them, however.
2. Oftentimes people think that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t reach Texas because of a lack of modern technology. But honestly, news about the Emancipation Proclamation did reach Texas fairly quickly. I found newspaper articles from Texas newspapers that referenced it from as early as January 1863, just weeks after the Proclamation was issued! But the blockage was rooted in deliberate deception, and the fact that Union soldiers weren’t nearby to enforce the Emancipation’s policy.
3. The Texas Centennial exhibition’s Hall of Negro Life was fascinating - it was essentially like a smaller version of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but in the 1930’s - and in Texas! Although funding to create this exhibit was initially promised by the state of Texas, it was pulled (because, well… politics… and Texas in the 1930’s…), and instead $100,000 in last-minute funding came from the federal government. 

Though it was a scramble to pull off, it sounds like it was incredible, and ultimately attracted over 400,000 visitors. Unfortunately, but not surprising, all of that hard work was turned to rubble just a year later. Some of the murals can be found in a museum in San Francisco and a Smithsonian now, and there’s an African-American history museum on the Dallas land where it stood. 
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          4. Also, while Al Edwards was known as the one who helped make Juneteenth a Texas state holiday, from a federal perspective, there were a number of lawmakers and activists who were advocating for it for decades, such as Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Opal Lee [not related], known as ‘The Grandmother of Juneteenth.” Although the closing illustration took a different, albeit powerful direction that I love, I would have loved to figure out how to incorporate the image of them helping sign Juneteenth into a national holiday.

The cover of The Juneteenth Story is so vibrant and joyful. What did you think when you first saw the illustrations by Sawyer Cloud? 

Sawyer did an unbelievable job with her illustrations- and she’s booked and busy. I personally know two other awesome authors who released books with her this year! In some parts of the story, the material is very difficult. Her vibrant images and the adorable children she depicted throughout the book help balance it out. She has a gift for bringing so much emotion and movement to still images. Some images were so vibrant I honestly felt like I could hear them. 
This was a challenging book because it covers centuries of material, different styles of dress, etc., not to mention the fact that she is illustrating people I know and love- but she did it masterfully!

Juneteenth is a special holiday for your family. Please tell us about your personal connection to the holiday. 

It is! My grandfather was part of BUILD, an activist organization in Buffalo, NY (my hometown). In 1976, while much of the nation was busy planning for America’s bicentennial, the BUILD organization planned to make a ‘culturally relevant’ alternative freedom celebration for those who didn’t have 200 years of freedom. The celebration became one of the largest in the nation. But as I said in one interview, I was probably in utero during my first Juneteenth! We were at the festival every year when I was growing up.

What are your plans for Juneteenth this year? 

This year I’ll be in Buffalo! (I now live in New Jersey). I’m looking forward to it. My grandfather and the Juneteenth Festival committee are just as excited as I am about the book coming out, so I can’t wait to be on-hand at the festival and in my hometown to celebrate.

Do you have any advice for debut or aspiring authors? 

Ha! Plenty. 
Your first draft is probably bad, let it simmer. Be a relentless reviser. 
Read a lot. Especially in your genre.  
Feeling stuck and looking for inspiration? Sometimes inspiration is right in front of you. Don’t take your lived experiences for granted. Someone else may find them fascinating.

What are you currently reading? 

I’ve got a couple in rotation right now! Operation Sisterhood by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley - so good. I also just read the ARC for Tameka Fryer Brown’s holiday PB Twelve Dinging Doorbells– that book made me hoot and holler! Can’t wait until it’s in the world.

When not writing you can find me….? 

Visiting bookstores, playing Uber driver to two kids, deliberating if I should hop on the Peloton, listening to podcasts, and cracking jokes on one of my many group text chats.

Tell us about your next project that’s scheduled to hit shelves in 2023.
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My next project was actually my original book baby!  It is a fiction rhyming picture book called Big Tune, scheduled to launch with Farrar, Straus and Giroux in Winter 2023. Big Tune is a story of Black boy joy, featuring a tenacious, thoughtful, dance-loving Jamerican boy in early 1990s Brooklyn. The illustrator is the incredible Shamar Knight-Justice, who is also a school principal! He’s absolutely one to watch.

Alliah L. Agostini grew up celebrating Juneteenth in Buffalo, NY; Her grandfather was one of the co-founders of the Juneteenth Festival of Buffalo. Founded in 1976, it grew to become the third-largest Juneteenth celebration in the world.
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A trained marketer with a passion for children's literature, Alliah writes with a commitment to spread joy, truth, and to help more children see themselves on the page. Alliah lives with her family in New Jersey, and has both an A.B. and an M.B.A from Harvard.

Learn more about Alliah at http://www.alliahagostini.com
Instagram + Twitter: @alliago