This article is about the The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder episode. For the date, see June 19.
"Juneteenth" is the twentieth episode of the Disney+ animated series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. It premiered on February 1, 2023 on Disney+ and aired on April 1, 2023 on Disney Channel, and is the final episode of the second season.
Synopsis
When Maya discovers that Smithville's founder was a slaveowner, she protests against his legacy.
Plot
As Barry reveals that he is descended from Smithville's founder Christian A. Smith, Maya goes to school and meets Emily (Storm Reid), a girl who beckons her to inquire about Smith's history, learning that there is virtually no information about him prior to 1900. No one else seems to notice Emily, but Maya, who finds a journal from her buried in the dirt near the statue of Smith, whom the town plans on honoring later. Maya, Penny, and their friends take the journal to Brother Kwame and discover that it contains information revealing that Smith was a slave owner and that Emily is a ghost, and may have been killed for trying to celebrate the first Juneteenth. Wizard Kelly refuses to end the celebration and Barry refuses to believe his family history. Upset, the kids go to the celebration and march, resulting in them and their parents getting arrested for standing up. Barry admits that he was ashamed and apologizes. After a month of negotiations, Smithville is renamed Emilyville and a statue of Emily is erected instead of Smith. Maya then sees Emily appear as an old woman before her spirit disappears, implying she was not killed and lived to know freedom.
Cast
- Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud
- Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud
- Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud
- Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones
- Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer
- Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez
- EJ Johnson as Michael Collins
- Keke Palmer as Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins
- Artist "A Boogie" Dubose as KG Leibowitz-Jenkins
- Asante Blackk as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Brown
- Zachary Quinto as Barry Leibowitz-Jenkins
- Billy Porter as Randall Leibowitz-Jenkins
- Storm Reid as Emily
- Carlo Mencia as Felix Boulevardez
- Maria Canals-Barrera as Sunset Boulevardez
- Leslie Odom Jr. as Brother Kwame
- Aries Spears as Wizard Kelly
- Brian Hooks as Igloo
- Tara Strong as Ms. Brady
Songs
- "All Day" by War
Trivia
- Moral: You have to be willing to fight for change and not be afraid of the truth.
- First episode where Maya is the central character.
- It is never explained how Penny and her friends were released from jail within a month. It could be possible that they were legally bailed out of jail at some point afterwards.
- As of this episode, Wizard Kelly has been elected Mayor, and Smithville has been renamed Emilyville in honor of a former slave.
- Tara Strong voices the casually annoying and racist history teacher. Strong was previously the voice of BeBe and CeCe, and also Puff before Carlos Alazraqui took over the latter in the second season.
- During a fashion montage, Barry wears the Beast's ballroom costume from Beauty and the Beast.
- In real life, Penny would not have been allowed to livestream from her prison cell since her phone would have been confiscated. It could be possible that she hid her phone from the arresting officers.
- Suga Mama, Bobby and Lisa Hill (from "Home School") appear but have no lines.
- During the door gag in the theme song, Ms. Brady holds up a copy of the novel The Help.
- While in prison, Oscar holds up a sign and shouts "Free Huey!", with Penny telling him that "Huey has been out for a while." This is a reference to Huey P. Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, who was arrested for the murder of officer John Frey following an incident that was believed to have been incited by Frey.
- As evidenced by the harmonica near the toilet, Penny and her friends and family were kept in the same cell Oscar was kept in at the end of "Get In".
- Despite its message being about fighting revisionism and speaking the truth, this episode takes a number of liberties with events and people in American history:
- Smithville, now Emilyville, is supposed to have been founded by Christian A. Smith in 1827, but it is also supposed to be situated in California. In 1827, California was still under Mexican control and wouldn't be annexed to the United States until 1848.
- Even after California became part of the United States, slaveowners who moved there during the Gold Rush weren't practicing plantation farming in the state itself like Christian A. Smith was depicted as doing. Furthermore, slaveowners weren't able to maintain the practice of slavery due to there being no laws to enforce the capture of escaped slaves. As a result, many slaves would run away from their masters or became rich by finding gold and even bought freedom for themselves and their family. There was trading between slave holders in the state, and those who tried to capture escapees often found out the hard way that the courts ruled in favor of their victims.
- While there is a small possibility that Emily could have been literate, the majority of slaves wouldn't have been able to read and write, especially if they were under the control of a harsh master Christian A. Smith was portrayed as in this episode. Also, even if Emily was literate, she wouldn't have been able to maintain a diary like she had at that age her due to not having the necessary paper and ink to write anything, while also keeping her literacy a secret from her master.
- When informing the girls about some of the history surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln himself, Brother Kwame implies that Lincoln stuck with the plan to deport slaves, when in fact he abandoned it as he came to see slavery as more of a moral issue than a political one. Also, the border states were only allowed to keep their slaves so they wouldn't secede from the Union. Lincoln could only abolish slavery permanently via the 13th Amendment, which required Congress and took more time and support.
- While Jubilee was celebrated in states that formerly allowed slavery, a non-slave state like California wouldn't have a reason to do so since it neither legalized slavery nor allowed it to be widely practiced. However, Black Texans brought Juneteenth to California during the Great Migrations where it became adopted as a practice.
- However, it did happen in the California Gold Rush.
Gallery
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