The Story Behind Our Juneteenth Shirt:

A Tribute to Memory, History & Black Texas Freedom

 

This isn’t just a shirt—it’s a wearable archive of Black Texas history and Juneteenth memory. The vision came from Javier Wallace, founder of Black Austin Tours, who drew from years of historical research to shape a design rooted in the legacy of enslavement, emancipation, and Black self-determination in Texas. He collaborated with Austin-based artist Chika Otuata, a talented Black woman designer, to bring that vision to life. Designed in 2021, the shirt is inspired by the bold aesthetics of Juneteenth shirts from the late ’80s and early ’90s—styles Javier remembered from his own childhood. Every symbol was intentionally chosen to tell a story, making this more than a celebration tee—it’s a statement piece meant to educate, honor, and inspire.

 

Forever Free

Across the front reads “Forever Free”—not just a phrase, but a declaration. Juneteenth marks a beginning, not an end. It symbolizes the moment when race-based chattel slavery legally ended in the United States and Black people in Texas began to carve out new lives, refusing to return to bondage. Next to it, “Freedom Colonies” honors the more than 500 known settlements in Texas founded by formerly enslaved people. These were rural and urban settlements where Black folks claimed land, built schools and churches, and fostered autonomy. They were places of ownership, community, and hope.

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The Gold Dollar Newspaper

Printed in the design is a replica of the Gold Dollar, one of Texas’s first Black-owned newspapers. Founded in Austin by Reverend Jacob Fontaine, the Gold Dollar was more than ink on paper—it was a lifeline. Through it, Black Texans found news, political insight, and perhaps most importantly, connection. Enslaved families torn apart looked for one another in its pages. Fontaine named it after the gold dollar his sister, Nellie Miller, gave him when they reunited after 20 years of separation due to slavery. The paper reminds us that storytelling and reunion are acts of liberation.

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The Couple

One image stands out: a sharply dressed Black couple from a historical Juneteenth photo taken in early 1900s Austin. Formerly enslaved, now free—and sharp. Their elegance and presence speak volumes about the dignity and resilience of Black life post-emancipation. They’re outside, in community, basking in the Texas sun. And that matters. Being on the land during Juneteenth is more than tradition—it’s commemorative and revolutionary. Black people were once treated as property, denied land ownership, and yet land acquisition became one of the first and most urgent pursuits after emancipation. To gather on that land, to walk it freely, to celebrate on it—is powerful. It honors those who fought to claim space for themselves and their descendants. Even as Black communities have faced stolen land, ongoing dispossession and loss, the act of being outside, together, remains an expression of freedom, memory, and possibility.

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Cotton

Cotton is present in the design, not as a decoration but a confrontation. It represents the reason so many enslaved people were trafficked to Texas—to work vast cotton plantations as the U.S. cotton industry exploded. Even after emancipation, Black Texans were often bound to the land as sharecroppers and debt farmers. Cotton is both beautiful and brutal—it shaped the economic rise of Texas and the violent conditions that made Juneteenth necessary. 

The Church

The church symbolizes the birth of Black institutions. As one of the first spaces built by freedpeople, Black churches were more than spiritual homes—they were places of refuge, strategy, education, and community building. Across Texas and throughout Freedom Colonies, the church anchored Black life. It birthed schools, colleges, businesses, and movements. The presence of the church in our design honors its lasting role in shaping Black futures.

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The Headstone

Lastly, the headstone grounds this design in reverence. It represents our ancestors—those who survived, those who didn’t, and those who labored without ever knowing freedom. Many were buried without markers, their names and stories lost by time and oppression. But after emancipation, Black people took charge of their burial practices, founding cemeteries, and honoring the dead. Today, there are thousands of historic Black burial grounds—some protected, many neglected. This headstone is a call to remember, to preserve, to tell their stories, and to protect their resting places. Because we are there.

 

This shirt is not a trend. It’s a legacy. It’s a conversation starter. It’s a piece of history, rooted in Texas, crafted with intention, and made to be worn with pride.