Founder of Black Austin Tours gained a new appreciation for Juneteenth in Panama

A man wearing a hat holds open a denim jacket showing a white shirt that reads "Black Austin Tours." — *Photo Courtesy Nicole Renfro*

This story was co-published as part of a partnership between Latine news and culture site Austin Vida and KUT News. The “Austin Cultura” radio show airs every first Friday of the month and is co-hosted by KUT producer Juan Garcia and Austin Vida Editor & Publisher Nancy Flores. You can listen to the show below:

Javier Wallace is a man of many identities, having been an athlete, scholar, tour guide and historian throughout his career. The son of a Black Austinite and a Black Panamanian immigrant, his roots connect to a long history of Afro-Latinos in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was from.

“[My dad] often talks about in the ’70s in Austin, riding the bus in East Austin and having people, Latino people speaking racially, negatively about him and his friends on the bus.”

Being Black and Latinx can be a complicated experience. Latinx people come from a variety of racial backgrounds due to the history of colonialism and enslavement that shaped the American continents. For Black Latinxes in Texas, the state’s history with Mexico and the Confederacy further shapes that experience.

“Texas is the only Confederate state that had an international border, and that’s Mexico,” Wallace said. “You have people that were seeking emancipation, seeking freedom in Mexico before June 19th, 1865.”

A man wearing a white shirt with the word "Juneteenth" printed across an image of the state of Texas leads a tour group. — *Javier Wallace started Black Austin Tours while earning his PhD from UT Austin.*

As a doctoral student at UT Austin, Wallace started Black Austin Tours as a way to make some extra money and share his family’s history and experiences living in Austin.

“I was learning cool things at UT Austin in the classroom with some amazing professors about the Black experience that I just wanted to tell people about it,” he said.

Wallace is currently leading a summer program for Duke University in Panama. He said experiencing Panama’s emancipation celebrations gave him a new appreciation for Juneteenth. In Panama, he celebrated “Dia de la Etnia Negra” on May 30, the date the Spanish crown abolished slavery in 1820.

“I feel Juneteenth in this moment here in Panama because it marks the same thing that Juneteenth marks,” he said.

You can find ways to celebrate Juneteenth in this month’s free Cultura Guide at austinvida.com.