View rare historic film of 1925 Juneteenth celebration on Yale Library Digital Collections

A rare early moving picture shows a Juneteenth 1925 celebration in Beaumont, Texas. The film is one of a collection of silent black and white films created by  Rev. Solomon Sir Jones, a minister who filmed a rich record of African American life primarily in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Jones’s films show the success of Black churches, colleges, families at home, sports and more. They also capture the aftermath of infamous events like the Tulsa Race Massacre. 

Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. June 19, 1865 is the official date when the U.S. Army arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the 2.5 year old Emancipation Proclamation. Texans had continued to keep the enslaved captive after they had been legally freed. 

The original Solomon Sir Jones Films are a collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. They have been fully digitized and can be viewed on the Yale Library Aviary platform. View the Solomon Sir Jones collection.  The YouTube clip accompanying this story is drawn from Film No. 10. There is also footage of an Oklahoma Juneteenth celebration in Film No. 26.

The films measure 12,800 feet (355 min). All films are B-wind positive prints, except one roll that contains approximately 150 feet of orange base B-wind positive.

Jones filmed Oklahoma residents in their homes; during their social, school and church activities; in the businesses they owned; and performing various jobs. The films document several Oklahoma communities, including Muskogee, Okmulgee, Tulsa, Wewoka, Bristow and Taft. The films also document Jones’s  trips to Indiana, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York City, South Carolina, Colorado, and overseas to France, England, Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, Northern Africa, and Germany. Slates between scenes identify locations, dates, and subjects.

Jones frequently filmed at various locations by positioning himself outside a building while people exited the building in a line. This perspective provides footage of people as they walk by the camera, usually looking directly at it. Footage of churches includes congregants exiting the service and socializing outside; footage of schools often includes students playing outside or doing exercises; and footage of people at their home includes them outside on their porches or in their yards. Aside from church and scheduled school activities, people presumably exited at Jones’s request for the purpose of being filmed by him.

The  history and significance of the films and their maker was highlighted in a  2021 Mondays at Beinecke talk by Martin L. Johnson, assistant professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Media contact: patricia.carey@yale.edu