Encountering Juneteenth: Cultivating Homeplace in the Face of Spectacular Violence.

This article analyzes how the 2020 social protests following George Floyd’s murder challenged the author’s understanding of home, using bell hooks’ concept of homeplace as a framework. Through a Black Feminist Autoethnographic (BFA) approach, the author reflects on three Juneteenth celebrations from 2019 to 2021, interpreting these events as sites of homeplace cultivation amid societal violence, framed by themes of Black Joy, Black Pain, and Unapologetic Blackness. The analysis highlights Juneteenth celebrations as Black counterspaces that foster community, resistance, and cultural affirmation, especially significant for Black mothers navigating the necropolitical realities of anti-Black violence. The article also discusses the evolving nature of homeplace as both a physical and symbolic space shaped by historical and contemporary struggles, and raises questions about Juneteenth’s dual role as a counterpublic and a federally recognized holiday.