BLCK Market reflects on Tulsa for Juneteenth
‘We are Black Wall Street’ is the Houston group’s theme, with events featuring businesses, performers and food trucks
J.O. Malone’s mother is from Tulsa, Okla., the same city President Joe Biden visited last week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — one of the worst instances of racial violence in U.S history.
A mob formed and killed hundreds of Black residents and left thousands homeless in Greenwood, a predominantly Black neighborhood that was commonly referred to as “Black Wall Street.” Now, Malone, owner of BLCK Market Houston, remembers his connection to Tulsa as the market looks forward to its second annual Juneteenth Celebration on June 19.
More than 70 businesses will participate in addition to food trucks and live performances. He said he hopes the free event helps further BLCK Market’s mission of being a safe place for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2017, BLCK Market is a large gathering of Black-owned businesses that meets bi-monthly at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum and has an e-commerce marketplace with more than 3,000 vendors. BLCK Market will open its first retail store in the Pearland Town Center later this year, he said.
“We are Black Wall Street. That is our motto for BLCK Market, Houston,” said Malone. “And that rallying cry is an homage to the Tulsa Riots in 1921. That is the reason why we are here.”
As in-person gathering restrictions have eased, BLCK Market is one of many Juneteenth celebrations in the Houston area this year. Juneteenth marks the acknowledgment of the end of slavery in Texas. There was more than a two year lapse between President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and June 19, 1865, the day slavery was officially abolished in Texas when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston.
Other Houston events include a Gulf Coast Juneteenth at the Miller Outdoor Theater, a Juneteenth Historical Bike Tour in Third Ward, and a Juneteenth Black Art Exhibit at Primary Paint PartyPrime Art Gallery, a Black-owned art gallery that opened in January 2021.
“We’re highlighting the beauty, the pain, the struggle, all of that through artwork,” said Deshun Sharp, manager and curator at Primary Paint Party.
The gallery opened after the owner, Tasha Felder, was tired of selling her artwork out of her car. Now, the gallery will host at least seven different artists hoping to sell their artwork alongside her. The exhibition opens on Saturday, Juneteenth and will run through June 28.
“There is always work to do. We don’t fight for equality at the BLCK Market, we fight for equity,” said Malone. “We believe that if we really chase the American dream, that equity in home ownership, commercial property, owning land, is going to give us the equality that we desire.”