#2427 DEIB CELEBRATION: Juneteenth

Alex Johnson
Jun 22, 2024
1 min read

Happy Juneteenth from Tips&Bricks to you! Today we present a quick snapshot of what this holiday means and share some fantastic builds from the community! Be sure to follow these great featured builders and share with us in the comments what this holiday means to you.

#2427 DEIB CELEBRATION: Juneteenth In today’s post, learn more about this important holiday and celebrate some fellow LEGO builders! Black and white image depicts a band of black men playing instruments in front of an American flag. @dishbrick has a LEGO depiction of the same scene in black and white, with brick-built and molded instruments, along with brick-built trees. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in the United States. However, it wasn’t until 1865 when over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were freed. Historical photo source: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124054/m1/1/

Historical Context The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863. This declared enslaved peoples in Confederate states to be freed, with the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 formally outlawing slavery everywhere in the United States. Abraham Lincoln exists in LEGO minifigure form, with a printed tile representing the Gettysburg Address. The minifigure, wearing black formal wear, beard, and top hat, is shown, along with a 2 by 2 tan tile that says “Four score and seven years ago.” Despite the Emancipation Proclamation, people in many places controlled by the Confederacy were still enslaved. It wasn’t until June 19th, 1865, when Union troops came to Galveston Bay, Texas and freed over 250,000 people. This day of liberation is celebrated with Juneteenth! A brick-built DOTS mosaic shows the state of Texas. It is mostly in dark red on a tan base of nine 16 by 16 plates. A blue star points out where Galveston Bay is, on the southeastern edge of the state. Reference: https://nmaahc.si.edu/juneteenth https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124054/m1/1/

Juneteenth Colors and Flags Like the flag of the United States, the Juneteenth flag uses red, white, and blue. If making your own brick version, you may find dark blue to be the best LEGO color match! The 7 by 4 flag with bar element 30292 is shown in dark blue. The Juneteenth flag is dark blue at the top, with an arc separating it from red on the bottom half. A white star is centered on the flag, with a white starburst outline around the central star. The arc across the flag symbolizes a new horizon! The center star represents Texas, while the starbust shows a new beginning for African American people! You may also see the Pan-African colors: green, yellow, and red pay homage to Ethiopia and their history of resistance to colonization. Red, black, and green evoke black liberation and unity. A brick-built mosaic of the red, black, and green flag is shown. Each bar of color is 8 studs high and 32 studs wide. Image reference: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/17/us/juneteenth-flag-meaning-explainer-cec/index.html

@the.modmom creates a Pan-African flag by color-blocking 4 x 12 sections. A mixture of tiles and both closed and open studs all add dimension to the mosaic! The Pan-African flag build is 12 studs by 12 studs, with a seemingly random mixture of 1 by 1 round tiles, studs, and open studs placed onto three bars. The colors are red and trans red, black, and green, bright green, and dark green. @femmefromtheblock uses all four Pan-African colors in their Juneteenth build! We love the chunky lettering, which uses classic bricks along with some slopes. Did you spot the wedge? A yellow wedge is floating on the page beside the build. It stacks bricks to form red, green, and black bars. Juneteenth is spelled out in stacked bricks and rests against the brick-built flag.

@femmefromtheblock also used lettering in this Juneteenth build. We love the mix of minidolls and minifigures! LEGO continues to produce minifigures and minidolls in more skin tones, helping more people feel represented. Two new skin tones, umber and sienna, were introduced in 2024! Their build seems to be laid flat on a surface, with the camera facing down. It uses red, black, and green tiles, with seven minifigures and minidolls resting against it. All are raising a hand to wave and feature a few skin tones representing brown people. Yellow plates and tiles form the word FREEDOM above the minifigures, and small LEGO stars are laid out in a circle. Minifigures and Pan-African colors are also in this collaborative mother/ daughter creation from @lightscameralego and @thebrickbabe. The figures frame an arrow that depicts progress! A base of reddish brown, black, red, yellow, and green bricks are underneath a collection of minifigures in various skin tones representing brown people.

@thebrickbabe and @lightscameralego build together. We admire the way that their bond as a family is strengthened through LEGO, which we see in this compelling art! Plates are used to form a large square that uses bars of red, yellow, and green. On top of this base, studs are used to create a raised fist, with the open space between the thumb and other fingers showing the background of the red, yellow, and green. A large image shows the build placed on a stand on a side table, with a photo of a woman on the wall in the background. The two builders were able to use only plates, even in the raised fist! Learn even more about @thebrickbabe in post #1959! A thumbnail of the post is included.

@bricks_and_britt uses different shades of green to present the Pan-African colors! A small square of 1 by 1 square tiles in red, greens, with black and gold, are at the corner of a 16 by 16 baseplate display. Two back walls are built with green, black, and red brick, and have two-plate deep Pan-African flags affixed to the wall. A collection of around a dozen minifigures are place on tan jumpers and tiles on the base. They have an assortment of skin tones representing black and brown people, with hairpieces that are also used to represent black and brown people. This vibrant display uses a fantastic assortment of minifigure heads and hairpieces! How many do you recognize? Pictures of two hairpieces are shown: Mini Doll, Hair Coiled, Pulled Up with Molded Yellow Head Wrap Pattern in dark brown and Minifigure, Hair Short Layered Mop Top with Lime Streaks Pattern in reddish brown.

We encourage you to conduct some research of your own to understand Juneteenth better! A LEGO magnifying glass emphasizes this. The National Museum of African American History & Culture is a great place to start: Recommended references: NMAAHC.si.edu/Juneteenth TexasHistory.unt.edu An image shows the minifigures from Everyone is Awesome set 40516. Remember that LEGO is more than just the bricks themselves: it’s also a community of people! Learning more about fellow AFOLs can help you grow as a person and as a builder. Seek out and follow AFOLs who are different from you to deepen your perspectives and see what you can learn from others. Happy Juneteenth from the Tips & Bricks team!

Featuring:

@lego_artistrybyandre

@dreambuilderslug Please note that @blk_grls_brick318 is not in Dream Builders LUG as stated in the post

2 Kommentare

betterwound

14. Jan.

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dokimdung123ls

23. Juli 2024

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