Previews: ARTS LEGACY REMIX: JUNETEENTH COMMEMORATION at Straz Center

The Straz Center’s Art Legacy Remix Fifth Annual Juneteenth Commemoration promises a moving, multi-sensory tribute to freedom, resilience, and the enduring power of Black storytelling. On Monday, June 16, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Jaeb Theater, the evening features remembrances, historical writings, and original performances created especially for the event.

Part of this powerful lineup is storyteller Jennifer Samuel Chance, whose spoken word artistry brings both emotional depth and historical gravity to the program.

“This year, I’ll be presenting a couple of original pieces about what Juneteenth means and about freedom,” Chance says. “I’ll also be embracing the Black anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing. But I want to take time to dial back and really look at what the words mean—because sometimes we sing things, we say them, but we don’t ingest what they truly mean.”

For Chance, storytelling is not just performance—it’s interpretation, preservation, and connection. Her work draws from history and emotion alike, shaped by a keen awareness of both the past and the present. “I put into consideration the history that comes behind it, the feeling, the emotions, and especially from something that historical—what was the mindset of the people experiencing it at that time?”

Born from a personal and cultural lineage of storytelling, she views her role as a continuation of a vital tradition. “Our history has been passed along through all the generations through story—from Africa and it has been documented and still happens today,” she explains. “So it is not a New Medium. Storytelling is the way that our history has been taught all of these different generations. I think I’m just carrying on the tradition.” Raised in both the Caribbean and the UK, Chance recalls growing up surrounded by stories from previous generations. “I heard stories my entire life from my parents’ generation. That’s the best way for people to get involved and get connected to the information being shared.”

Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas learned they had been freed—two years after the Emancipation Proclamation—continues to be a moment of reckoning, joy, and renewed urgency. For Chance, it’s a time to reflect on what was endured and to honor the strength it took to survive it.

“Embrace how strong, resilient, creative, and beautiful People of Color are,” she urges. “To have survived and continue to survive variations of the trauma we’ve been through is absolutely miraculous and amazing.”

She hopes the evening will be more than just a commemoration—it will be a call to consciousness. “We don’t ever want to go back to any semblance of what that was about,” she says. “Juneteenth needs to be embraced even more than it has been because we don’t realize how precious freedom is until it is taken away.”

Asked why it’s important for people to attend, Chance’s response is clear. “To know where they came from,” she says. “And this is not just African American. Everybody needs to know, no matter where you’re from, how strong, resilient people are in general… When you attend an event like this, you have to know from where we came so you know where you need to be and need to go.”