ALWAYS FREE!

TEXAS, JUNE 19TH 1865 -  WAS WHEN THE US GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED THE END OF SLAVERY IN  THE CONFEDERATE SOUTH.

"ALWAYS FREE" IS A SOMBER & JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF THE "SURRENDER." 

IN THE 1930's, 100,000 FORMER ENSLAVED AFRICANS, WERE STILL ALIVE AND INTERVIEWED FOR THE FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT. (Later renamed WPA)

A powerful intimate journey in American, African American and Civil War History.

ONI CONNECTS PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR'S SOUTHERN DIALECT POETRY OF PLANTATION DAYS TO ORIGINAL WPA NARRATIVES & FREEDOM SONGS FROM THE ACAPELLA GROUP, SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK.

Oni Lasana as Mary Ella Grandberry is on a book tour telling of her experiences before and after Juneteenth.

MS. RUBY DEE IS ONE OF THE FEATURED ACTORS WHO DRAMATIZED THE ACCOUNT OF KATIE ROWE  IN "UNCHAINED MEMORIES"...READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES. AS PRODUCED BY HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IN 2003. 

ALWAYS FREE! 

HIGHLIGHTS THE VALUE OF EDUCATION AND THE POWER OF A PEOPLE TO SURVIVE THE HOLOCAUST OF AMERICAN SLAVERY.