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>> LIDIA BASTIANICH: Independence, freedom and the Fourth of July.

For most of us, Independence Day means fife and drums, flags... and fireworks.

But celebrating independence comes in many forms in this country, and the concept of freedom means different things to all the different cultures represented here.

>> Well, we drink to revolution.

>> (laughs) >> LIDIA: Tonight's stories take place over the course of a whole year and center on four wonderful celebrations I had with an amazing group of Americans.

>> ♪ This land is your land, this land is my land... ♪ >> LIDIA: From a grand dinner at Jefferson's Monticello, celebrating not only the 4th of July, but the naturalization of 80 new citizens, all to the sound of the great Renée Fleming.

>> ♪ America... ♪ >> LIDIA: To my dear, dear friend, Jacques Pepin's Bastille Day party in Madison, Connecticut, with musical help from Martha Wainwright.

(singing in French) >> There is nothing like a big party to bring people together.

We eat together, drink together, and we have a great time, and that's what life is all about.

♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: Then it's off to Galveston, Texas, for some dry rubbed barbecue...

So you like a little fat in your meat?

You like a little fat in your ladies, too?

>> Yes... >> LIDIA: I thought so.

And a gospel-tinged Juneteenth celebration of the emancipation of the slaves with Anna Deavere Smith.

>> The notion that the people who lived here could be deprived of the knowledge that they were free kind of makes me paranoid about what I don't know right now.

>> You know you're in an ethnic grocery store when there are fruits and vegetables you cannot identify.

Holy cow!

>> LIDIA: Then on to an fun-filled day with Alec Mapa in New York City, dancing and celebrating the Philippine Independence.

>> Filipinos don't say, "I love you," they say, "Are you hungry?"

>> LIDIA: Food is love.

>> Food is love.

(laughs) >> LIDIA: Come with me as we celebrate America.

♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: This is Monticello, Virginia.

And tomorrow is Independence Day.

Here on this lush 640-acre estate near Charlottesville, Thomas Jefferson made his home for 56 years.

Now, you might expect there to be some sort of celebration, I mean, Jefferson did write the document that declared us independent of Great Britain some two and a half centuries ago.

What you might not realize is that since 1963, Monticello has hosted a grand Fourth of July naturalization ceremony on the front steps of Jefferson's home.

And in about 24 hours, his yard will be filled with people from all over the world celebrating the swearing-in of 80 of America's newest citizens.

>> ♪ It's a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free ♪ ♪ 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be ♪ ♪ And when we find ourselves in the place just right ♪ ♪ 'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

♪ ♪ When true simplicity... ♪ >> LIDIA: And my friend Renée Fleming has beautifully captured the sound of the day.

>> ♪ We will not be ashamed ♪ ♪ To turn, turn will be our delight ♪ ♪ Till by turning, turning we come round right.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: I've decided to take advantage of this calm before the storm to walk Jefferson's farmland with groundskeeper Gabriele Rausse.

To understand American history, you need to understand Thomas Jefferson.

And to understand Thomas Jefferson, and his philosophy and how he worked, you need to come to Monticello.

>> Yeah, it is an unbelievable place.

When the revolution was done, he realized that United States of America was still connected with England.

So when Jefferson goes to France and Italy, he look at what other country needed, and he said, "Maybe I can supply them what they need."

And look, 100 years later, United States of America started to feed the world.

>> LIDIA: So Jefferson realized that for a country to be truly independent, it had to feed itself and develop trade with others.

And that meant plant everything you can, and see what takes.

♪ ♪ As a young girl, we had a big tree, and I used to climb up on the tree and have a fig fight, throw figs at each other.

That was our way of enjoying life.

>> This is called "Marseille," actually.

>> LIDIA: Was this his favorite?

>> It was Jefferson's favorite fig when he came back from France.

>> LIDIA: The gardens made me feel this connecting link of 200 years-plus between Italy and France and Europe and America.

Jefferson was literally preparing the ground for what would be America's agricultural future.

But he also believed in table diplomacy.

He would have meals and have different politicians from the world.

He would invite them here?

>> That is definitely Italian culture, to solve all the problems at the table when you are happy.

>> LIDIA: A lot of times we create problems.

(laughing) >> Yes.

>> And then Gabrielle and I do something I'll never forget.

We prepare fig and prosciutto bruschetta and a fresh tomato panzanella from ingredients we picked in Jefferson's garden.

And-- get this-- we prepare it in Jefferson's kitchen.

>> It's very beautiful.

Look how tender they are.

>> LIDIA: Mm-hmm.

>> There is a quote by Thomas Jefferson that I love "It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness."

I love it.

When a person focus on what he does, he should really be happy with himself.

>> LIDIA: Salute.

>> Salute.

♪ ♪ >> This form, green card, everybody.

>> LIDIA: For our soon-to-be citizens, today is a day of paperwork and nerves.

>> I'm originally from Tibet.

I'm born in India.

>> Last year I went back home for the first time.

"Home" to Colombia.

And then I just realized after ten years of not being there, home was here.

I was more American than I was Colombian, so I just came back, and I just told my husband, "Okay, I'm doing the paperwork."

So I'm ready to bear arms.

>> LIDIA: Every one of tomorrow's celebrants has a story.

This is Faiza.

And this is her story.

>> This is a sign of a woman's homemaking skills-- how fine she can chop that ginger.

>> LIDIA: Knife skills.

>> Knife skills, yeah.

>> LIDIA: They hold true in Pakistan and Italy, all over the world.

>> Yeah, exactly.

(laughs) I was born in Kuwait, but I'm a Pakistani citizen.

My husband is American, my son is American.

We didn't have this identity as a family together.

>> LIDIA: So you met in Kuwait, and what were you doing in Kuwait?

>> Teaching at international schools.

That's where I was, and then she walked in to... >> LIDIA: Transcontinental love story.

>> Exactly, it was.

>> Pretty much, yeah.

Tonight, there is a dinner with several of the new citizens that Monticello is throwing with Lidia, and we're all bringing food from our culture and our homeland.

>> LIDIA: What is this dish?

>> Well, it's called karahi chicken, and it's the first Pakistani food my mom taught me how to make, so it's her recipe, and it's one of my favorites.

It's a really rich, spicy tomato sauce so there's lots of fresh ginger and cilantro and green chilies in it.

>> LIDIA: Did you like spicy food forever, or did she spice your life a little bit?

>> She definitely spiced my life, for sure.

>> LIDIA: But there's one thing about Faiza that makes her particularly excited about tomorrow's ceremony.

This is an extraordinary time for you.

You will be able to vote.

That has been in your heart for a long time.

>> It has.

>> LIDIA: Yeah?

>> Yeah, I'm 33 years old, and I've never voted.

>> LIDIA: This is a big deal for Faiza.

I mean, here in America we take for granted the fact that women can vote.

>> Growing up in Kuwait, I wasn't a citizen, so I couldn't vote there.

And it would have been moot because women didn't have the right to vote in Kuwait until 2005.

That's my mom.

So I've never really been able to take part in the democratic process.

I've stood on the sidelines and helped, and then on Election Day, I had to walk to the polls with my husband and watch while he voted.

>> LIDIA: On the evening before the big day, I invite a handful of tomorrow's future citizens to a little Jeffersonian table diplomacy of our own.

Yes, special day, huh?

>> Very special day.

To be an American, a dream come true.

>> LIDIA: Each one is bringing a dish from his or her native land.

Faiza brings her karahi chicken.

Gabriele and I bring the panzanella we made in Jefferson's kitchen.

Kezon from Bhutan brings a vegan soup.

You know, it's not too far from the minestrone, the Italian minestrone.

He came here for a very common reason.

>> I always tell her that I came to the States for education, but I stayed back for love, and also for my dream.

>> Well, actually, by the time I met him, he was driving a Camaro and drinking Budweiser.

>> LIDIA: He was American, for all purposes.

(laughter) Dominic from Sudan brings a spinach and okra stew called melokia served with a flat spongy bread called canjeero.

>> The community I came from, man is not supposed to be cooking.

You come to America, everything is equal.

When you are in the United States.

>> LIDIA: Joanne from Zimbabwe brings a thick corn dough called sadza and Cape Malay curry.

>> You know, you make your home with your spouse, and that's where you belong, and your children but then becoming a citizen has really solidified that.

>> LIDIA: You belong now, you belong somewhere.

>> Then I belong somewhere.

>> LIDIA: Can I tell you my story?

I came as an immigrant in 1958; I was 12.

After World War II, the area that we were in Istria and Dalmatia was caught behind the Iron Curtain.

You just couldn't leave.

So my mother, my brother and I left, pretending that my great-aunt was ill, and they kept my father as a hostage.

Two weeks later, my father ran over the border, they were shooting at him, dogs were running after him.

He made it.

And I remember at 2:00 in the morning there was a knock at the door, and ultimately, I saw my father tattered and torn.

It was a really crying reunion.

At that moment, I realized that our life had changed and was about to change even more.

And in 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower opened an immigration for political refugees, specifically for people fleeing communism.

And I remember it was 1965; I was 18.

And I was the first of my family to get my citizenship.

I wanted to be naturalized.

And as all of you said, to finally feel part of someplace, it feels so good.

So, congratulations.

Salute, chin chin.

And so for Dominik and Kezon, and Joanna and Faiza... and 76 other refugees, students, husbands, wives, teachers, scientists, mothers and fathers, tomorrow is a very big day.

Now, it should be noted that the American independence from Great Britain would never have happened without the aid of the French.

The French generals Lafayette and Rochambeau helped Washington surround the British at Yorktown, Virginia, and were right by his side as the British surrendered on October 19, 1781.

Not even eight years later, on July 14, 1789, a group of French commoners stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, and thus started another famous war of man over monarch: the French Revolution.

♪ ♪ Every year on this day, Franco-Americans and Francophiles alike celebrate with delicious French food, pastries and, of course... dancing.

♪ ♪ (cheers and applause) (cheering) And my good friend Jacques Pepin hosts a fabulous party to celebrate liberty and the fight against oppression for people everywhere.

>> Well, we drink to revolution.

>> LIDIA: Tonight we're making an amazing array of hors d'oeuvres, paté, crepes, veal.

I mean it's Jacques Pepin, for goodness' sake.

And we're celebrating La Fête Nationale.

But you know, the French Revolution came after the American Revolution.

>> Yes, exactly, yes.

>> LIDIA: And so do you think that the French looked over the ocean a little bit and got the idea?

>> That's very interesting.

Because Lafayette came first to work on the American Revolution, and then he returned to France.

>> LIDIA: What can I say about Jacques Pepin?

He's an internationally recognized French chef, television personality and author... (small gunshot) >> Go!

>> LIDIA: Emmy winner with Julia Child, and has garnered awards from the James Beard Foundation more times than I could possibly remember.

But most importantly, Jacques is my friend.

>> Today we have a lot of wine, a lot of food, a lot of yelling, a lot of kissing, a lot of fun.

>> LIDIA: Jacques, I wanted to bring Martha Wainwright.

>> Hello, absolutely.

>> Tres bien, merci.

>> LIDIA: A dear friend from Montreal.

>> From Montreal?

>> Yes, from Montreal, yeah.

>> LIDIA: What's a Bastille Day without some music?

Martha Wainwright is a beguiling entertainer and the daughter of folk legends Loudon Wainwright and the late Kate McGarrigle, and sister of acclaimed singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright.

She has recorded three albums, including a live collection of Edith Piaf songs.

And today she's taking a break from her world tour to join in our celebration.

>> Lidia brought me here to celebrate Bastille Day.

And what better place to do it than at Jacques Pepin's house here in Connecticut?

>> LIDIA: Step number one is a glass of champagne.

>> Well, we'll will drink to that.

>> LIDIA: Votre santé.

>> Thank you for coming.

>> We're playing some music, we're cooking, and we're celebrating French culture, and this glorious weather as well.

♪ Ma petite mendigotte ♪ ♪ Je sens ta menotte ♪ ♪ Qui cherche ma main.

♪ ♪ Je sens ta poitrine et ta taille fine ♪ ♪ J'oublie mon chagrin.

♪ When Jacques started to sing along, he had that real French way of singing them.

♪ Je sens sous tes lèvres ♪ ♪ Une odeur de fièvre, de gosse mal nourrie... ♪ These are his songs, you know.

That was really an amazing gift, for me.

♪ Je sens une ivresse qui m'anéantit.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Les escaliers de la butte ♪ ♪ Sont durs aux miséreux ♪ ♪ Les ailes du Moulin ♪ ♪ Protègent les amoureux.

♪ >> LIDIA: Bravo!

>> Bravo!

>> Bravissimo.

>> Bravissima, Martha!

>> LIDIA: Besides music, a party at Jacques' is not complete without three specific things: champagne... food... and pétanque.

Pétanque is a ballgame that dates back to the 16th century and basically involves a small ball being the target of larger balls.

♪ ♪ Now, I'm Italian.

And we don't play pétanque.

We play bocce.

So, I admit it; I'm a little competitive, and more than a little nervous.

Bocce is different because, you know, you have like a bowling lane.

>> This is more like free-form, you go all over.

>> LIDIA: It is, it is.

We have bigger balls.

>> Exactly.

>> Oh, come on.

>> LIDIA: Pétanque is played feet together with the palm facing down, but tossed underhand.

Bocce is played, well, more like bowling.

>> And your small one is this one.

And my small one is this one.

So it's much smaller, yeah.

>> LIDIA: I'm used to aiming at a ball the size of an orange.

In pétanque, your target is no larger than a plum.

>> We're the white bottom team.

>> LIDIA: So it's boys against girls, the girls with a serious bocce/Bastianich handicap.

Watch it, no, no.

You're in danger zone with me.

(laughs) And the best I can do is play pétanque balls with a bocce stance.

>> Yeah, you do bocce!

Do what you do best.

>> Yes!

(clapping) >> This one has the point.

(cheering) >> You beat the crap out of me.

>> LIDIA: When you're born into something, you're born... >> You're born into it.

I'll drink to that.

>> LIDIA: Absolutely.

But that's not all.

The losers with the least points have to... well... >> They have to kiss the fanny.

Come on, guys.

>> What a shame.

>> LIDIA: The French really like to rub it in to the loser.

But all in all, it's just great fun.

(applause) >> There is nothing like a big party to bring people together.

We argue, no question about it.

But more than anything else, we eat together, drink together, and we have a great time.

And that's what life is all about.

>> Jacques and I go way back with Julia Child, actually.

I think she brought us together.

>> Yes.

>> LIDIA: She was the American, he was the French, I was the Italian.

We got pulled together a lot of times.

And it was just wonderful.

>> Julia was taller than you.

>> LIDIA: I know she was.

Certainly taller than you.

(laughs) >> I remember she said, "Jacques!"

I come, I end up in her breast each time.

>> LIDIA: You didn't mind that.

At least you didn't get hurt.

>> (laughing) No.

>> Did you learn anything from her as an American cooking French food, or is it...?

>> If you open your mind, you always learn.

>> LIDIA: You always learn.

>> Ah, my goodness.

Is this the menu book that I'm holding here?

>> LIDIA: Look how beautiful.

>> You see Bastille Day, boules party, for Lidia.

>> And who does the designs?

>> LIDIA: He, he!

>> No, stop it, stop it.

>> LIDIA: Jacques has this almost curly cue attitude in designing a menu.

In old times, menus were written for the event, by a calligrapher, and so he keeps on tradition.

>> I have seven menu books in 45 years.

And people will sign.

Now I can say, "Gee, this one is dead.

Gee, this one is dead.

(laughter) >> LIDIA: I'm not signing.

>> Exactly, right.

>> Saucisson, the rabbit paté, the warm clam with the pesto.

It's a very simple hors d'oeuvre, but it's good.

>> LIDIA: Simple is best, isn't it?

>> Oh, yes.

I put them in the oven like 200 degree, very low for like ten minutes so they are just lukewarm.

And then we're going to do a little bit of pesto on top like that.

>> LIDIA: When they're warm like that.

>> Thank you, my favorite.

Mm... >> LIDIA: It's a great play on temperature.

Usually clams, you expect that cold.

But the brininess is still there from the water, you taste the sea, and then you have the complexity of the herbs.

>> A little bit of pesto on top.

>> LIDIA: Scrambled eggs.

>> We do the scrambled eggs too.

>> LIDIA: Great.

>> Eggs and herb.

Mmm...

So good.

>> Wow, yummy.

>> Very, very good.

>> Those eggs, delicious.

>> I don't have to tell you how to make scrambled eggs, but... >> LIDIA: Oh no, there's always a little technique.

>> What's different we add wild turkey eggs.

>> LIDIA: I'm curious, it's a tough skin.

>> This is tough, yeah, yeah.

>> LIDIA: Wow.

Look how big the yolk.

>> We add pheasant eggs and a couple of different heirloom chicken from a farm around the corner.

With a lot of herbs-- we have tarragon, parsley and chive.

>> Is this too much tarragon or is this... >> I love tarragon.

>> You like more, yes.

(laughter) >> LIDIA: Let me tell you, the way you cooked it quickly and whipped it up almost into a cream.

And then you added crème fraiche to make it even more creamy?

Your technique is just impeccable.

Mm... >> Mm... >> LIDIA: Maybe a little bit more salt, you think so?

>> Maybe a little bit more.

>> Yeah, I think you're right.

You know, when I cooked with Julia, all the time she said, "Taste, taste."

I would taste and say, "I think it needs salt."

She'd taste and say, "No, it's fine."

(laughter) So next time, say, "Taste, taste."

I taste, I say, "I think it's fine."

She taste, she say, "It needs salt."

(laughter) ♪ ♪ (bell clanging) >> Welcome to our house.

We're delighted you could be with us, on this beautiful summer day.

And to welcome Lidia, a dear friend.

(cheers and applause) And this is Bastille Day.

(cheers and applause) >> Vive la France!

>> Now we're going to have crepes mornay with Swiss chard, and some broiled ham and gruyere.

♪ ♪ And then a roasted veal shoulder with the jus, and ratatouille and haricot vert.

♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: My favorite course of the night?

The dessert dedicated to Marie Antoinette, who-- when the people revolted because they had no bread-- said, "Let them eat cake!"

>> That's how it's translated.

She actually said, "Give them brioche."

And tonight, we're going to have brioche in the name of Marie Antoinette.

(laughter) ♪ ♪ >> And as the sun disappears, the guests sign their names in the latest of Jacques' 45 years' worth of menu books.

>> Jacques, what an honor to be here, a dream come true to be with you and Lidia.

>> Thank you.

>> LIDIA: And when it gets really late?

>> I see a big one right there.

>> Go right down there on top of it.

>> We got him!

>> LIDIA: Good job.

That's a big one.

>> I want to hold him it!

>> So what are we going to name this one?

>> Louie.

>> LIDIA: Louie, so we have a...

Tomorrow for breakfast?

Frog legs frittata.

>> ♪ Over my head... ♪ >> Now, July Fourth is not the only uniquely American celebration of independence.

>> ♪ I hear music in the air.

♪ >> LIDIA: Every June 19th, on the Gulf Coast of Galveston Island, Texas, the town celebrates the American emancipation of the slaves in a profoundly unique and personal way.

The celebration is called Juneteenth.

(holds note) >> The morning starts early with Dr. Barbecue starting up his smoker with thick logs of oak... >> Don't hold it against me that I don't eat pork or beef.

>> Well, that's not a problem.

You're in Galveston, seafood town.

Texans smoked these fish and smoked these... >> Oh, it's all good, right?

>> Yeah.

>> LIDIA: My traveling companion is actor/playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

Anna is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Nancy McNally in The West Wing and as Hospital Administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.

(phone rings) But she is perhaps best known for writing and performing her award-winning, one-woman tours de force documenting the struggles of Americans dealing with race, riots, health and activism.

Anna and I pay a visit to Sam Collins on an old plantation called Stringfellow Orchards.

Sam recently bought this place in hopes to turn it into a historical museum.

>> Okay, we're going to do Juneteenth 101.

>> LIDIA: All right.

>> Juneteenth is June 19, 1865, when Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and announced that all slaves were free.

Of course, this was after the Civil War ended.

>> Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863.

But it wasn't until 1865, General Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in this town and changed the lives of African Americans here who didn't know that they were free.

>> LIDIA: So this is a belated celebration because news just didn't get here in time.

>> Well, I think the news was here.

I think the slave owners knew, but they did not recognize the Emancipation Proclamation as law, therefore they didn't enforce it.

>> So even though it happened in 1863, it wasn't going to be enforced in most places anyway.

>> If it was left up to the Confederacy, it still wouldn't be enforced.

>> Yeah, sure.

>> But we're glad that the Union won and slowly spread the word and enforced the law.

>> Before telephone, for God's sake, before texting.

Well, gee, didn't somebody write a letter?

Yeah, but who controlled how the mail got around?

So the notion that the people who lived here could be deprived of the knowledge that they were free kind of makes me paranoid about what I don't know right now.

Lidia, given the fact that you do come from a struggle yourself.

When you hear a story about this type of struggle, what does it make you think about in terms of your struggle?

>> LIDIA: My story is one of getting away from oppression.

So when I came here, I felt the opportunity, the Catholic charities, the social workers, they found a home for us, they found a job for my father.

We were very welcomed.

And yet when I think the slaves, how hard it was, it's much harder than what we did.

>> And it's also not the Promised Land.

It's very complicated for African American people because it was the dreaded land.

It was the dreaded land.

When I went to Senegal, to the island of Gorée, and there's that moment that they opened the darkest, darkest, dungeon, and there's the sea, and it's bye-bye, Africa.

>> They were stolen from it all.

>> LIDIA: We came willingly with anticipation.

>> You're talking about a promise, which you see slowly being fulfilled, not quite, because so many of our people are still broken.

>> To see the descendant of a slave own a property that was once owned by a Confederate soldier speaks volumes to those ideals that if you work hard and that you pursue your dreams, that you can achieve those dreams.

When I stand on this porch, I'm standing on the shoulders of my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmothers that cleaned the floors of homes like this.

And I don't take it for granted that because of their sacrifice, I'm able to own a place like this today.

>> LIDIA: And what a place this is, teeming with history.

>> Henry Martin Stringfellow was a former Confederate soldier that relocated to the area during the Civil War.

He was a world-renowned horticulturist that planted Satsuma oranges on the Gulf Coast in the 1880s.

And he basically started the citrus industry on the Texas Gulf Coast.

>> LIDIA: And I see you have walnut trees.

>> We have pecan trees.

All of these are pecan trees.

>> LIDIA: So you're going to develop more oranges as Stringfellow tradition?

>> We're hoping to start a little community garden for young kids here.

I like to invest my time in the children.

>> Kind of cool.

That's kind of cool.

I hate to make this turn a little dark, but you know, we are talking about slavery.

Trees represent, in our history, things that are very fruitful and life-fulfilling.

And then the tree in black culture means other things.

>> Yeah, there's an India Arie song that she talks about being under these oaks.

"Is this a tree that my brother hung from?

Is this the ground where his body was burned?"

>> I hear you are a descendant of slaves.

>> Yes, from Texas.

I've traced my family back to as far as 1820.

>> LIDIA: After the slaves were freed, many stayed on the plantations as paid workers.

And Mr. Stringfellow, it turns out, did something amazing.

>> Most landowners here were paying 50 cents a day.

Mr. Stringfellow was paying 30 black men that worked here a dollar a day.

>> Wow.

>> So I want you to think about your salary, if it was doubled, would it make a difference in your life?

>> Yeah.

>> LIDIA: Certainly.

(laughing) That's easy to understand.

>> I don't think he tried to overcompensate.

I think he paid what he thought was a fair wage, and he had the most successful orchard of the Gulf Coast.

The ripple effect of that is still being felt today, because descendants of those men working here still own property off of money they earned from working in places like Stringfellow Orchards.

>> The plantation owner, Mr. Stringfellow, paid his men a dollar a day, in the face of the fact that most people were paying 50 cents a day.

The notion that there were people who had a sense of what was fair.

Something like that is the investment in the betterment of mankind in your community.

♪ Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around ♪ ♪ Turn me around, turn me around ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around... ♪ >> LIDIA: Dr. Barbecue's meal is looking really good.

And I'm looking forward to giving him a little help... not that he needs it.

(holds note) >> LIDIA: Buongiorno, I'm looking for Dr. Barbecue.

>> Well, you just met him, I am Dr. Barbecue.

>> LIDIA: Well, pleasure, doctor.

Leon's World Famous Bar-B-Que has had its doors open for 25 years.

Leon learned his craft from his father, who learned it from his father.

>> Now we make this seasoning.

>> LIDIA: Let's start with the chicken.

>> That's a yard bird.

>> LIDIA: The yard bird.

>> That's a dry rub.

>> LIDIA: And what's in there?

>> Black pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, salt, a little dehydrated brown sugar and of course a little chili powder.

Oh, you already know how to do it.

>> LIDIA: Well, you know, 40 years in the kitchen that I have, it's okay.

>> Oh yes, oh yes.

Back in the early '40s and into the '50s, I would just used to watch my dad dig that hole in the ground.

We get us a little soda pop, a little strawberry Kool-Aid, and just sit on the sideline, and watch him do it.

And that meat was so tender back during that timeframe.

>> LIDIA: Today Dr. Barbecue trades the old ground pit for a classic smoker.

That's a brisket.

>> That's a brisket.

That's choice brisket.

>> LIDIA: Look at the juiciness.

>> I get choice, and choice only.

>> LIDIA: And a carving lesson from a master never hurts.

>> This is the lean part of the brisket.

And this you get into a little bit more of the fat.

And I had to give that part of the meat a name.

>> LIDIA: Did you give it a name?

>> Yes, I'll tell you about the name.

You got the little fancy ladies that come in.

They say, "I want a little fat in my meat."

They say it real low.

So the name is "Leon's Cut."

Off the backside, you see that, right here.

This is called Leon's Cut.

>> LIDIA: So you like a little fat on your meat.

You like a little fat on your ladies too?

>> Yes, yes.

>> LIDIA: I thought so.

I am definitely partial to Leon's Cut.

Cheers.

Mmm... perfetto.

♪ ♪ >> Good bread, good meat, good Lord, let's eat.

>> LIDIA: Good Lord, let's eat.

>> Amen.

Whoa, that's serious brisket.

This is real barbecue.

♪ ♪ This tastes like home.

It takes me back to Baltimore.

>> LIDIA: Isn't that wonderful?

What was that recipe you had, chicken, buttermilk, and...?

>> Fried fowl chicken and whiskey.

>> LIDIA: Joining us on this beautiful day is local historian and choral leader, Izola Collins.

>> We'd have Juneteenth picnics when I was a child.

They would dig these deep pits in the ground, and when you're talking about food, brother Leon, you probably weren't born when I was there.

>> My next birthday I'll be 73.

>> Okay, you're a baby.

(laughter) I'm ten years older than y'all.

And they used to be given a half a cow by some white friend who liked their services.

It'd been turning on a pit all night.

It smelled, I said smelled really pretty.

And the men sang folk songs.

The down home songs.

"Everyday I Got the Blues," "St. Louis Blues," as well as the spirituals.

>> ♪ Wade in the water, wade in the water ♪ >> LIDIA: Spirituals are the songs going back three, four generations.

The people working, getting into a song and expressing themself.

>> They expressed themselves in many ways.

They had veiled instructions in those songs.

>> ♪ I said wade in the water ♪ >> Many times spirituals explained how to escape from slavery, how to move north in the Underground Railroad.

>> ♪ Wade in the water, God gonna trouble that water.

♪ >> It was a kind of expression too, I believe, that we would all be all right.

♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: As evening arrives, people prepare for a procession up Main Street, just as they did on that first day of freedom, a century and a half ago.

>> Their first documented celebration of Juneteenth was a procession from the old court house here in Galveston, to the colored church on Broadway, and that colored church was Reedy Chapel AME Church.

>> LIDIA: So this is the church.

And the procession is happening, they're on the way here.

>> The procession is on the way here.

>> ♪ Turn me around, turn me around ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna let nobody... ♪ ♪ We shall overcome someday ♪ >> LIDIA: So, it all comes down to this: the celebration of the reading of a granting of freedom that came two years too late, but came nonetheless.

>> But I wonder if you can just go back with me.

There was no air conditioning at the time.

(laughter) There were no iPads and iPods.

>> All right, all right.

>> No smartphones.

>> That's right.

>> But yet he stood, and he read these words we call the Emancipation Proclamation.

Whereas on the 22nd day of September A.D., in 1862 a proclamation was issued by the president of the United States, containing among other things, the following, to wit: That on the first day of January A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state shall henceforth and forever be free.

And the executive government of the United States... >> I think Juneteenth is a holiday that everyone could celebrate because we celebrate freedom.

Juneteenth represents the evolution of our country to the ideals that the country was founded on.

That all men and women are created equal.

>> And upon this act, sincerely believe to be an act of justice.

>> One of the benefits of looking at slavery, to look at our creed, "All men are created equal."

It doesn't say women, it says men.

We will forgive them that oversight of half the population.

That we all deserve the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Which at one point was almost written as property, and that people were property.

There's so much we still don't know about how we negotiated that at that time.

And the miracle that it did finally end.

>> And almost 100 years after this was read stood another giant in American history: Dr. Martin Luther King.

And he ends his speech, "Free at last.

"Free at last.

Thank God almighty, we're free at last."

Come on, give the Lord a hand of praise for what he's able to do in this, our great nation.

>> ♪ Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.

♪ >> LIDIA: It bears mentioning that the Emancipation Proclamation was a first step in a very long battle for equality that continues to this very day.

The idea that all men are created equal turns out to be not so absolute in its enacting.

I'm taken back to a question I asked Izola at the barbecue.

Izola, what does Juneteenth mean to you?

>> Freedom.

>> LIDIA: Freedom.

>> The teenth of June.

Not the tenth, but the teenth of June.

>> LIDIA: The teenth of June.

The teenth of June.

Freedom doesn't come in a single day.

Gaining it is a continuing struggle through time.

Juneteenth, it turns out, is that almost mythical day, just out of reach, but moving ever closer-- that day when each and every human being will truly be free.

>> ♪ When Jesus Christ is born.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> It's June 12, and New York City is ablaze with the music, dances and street food of the Philippine Islands.

Adobo, yes.

Philippine Independence is something I'm dying to learn more about.

Because I've always assumed it was from the Spanish this country was declaring independence, but I soon find out that, very much like my homeland, the Philippines had a number of occupiers.

Tonight we're making kinilau, pork adobo and embutido and celebrating the Philippine Independence.

In Italian, we say, "buon apetito."

And I say, "Tutti a tavola a mangiare."

Is there something similar in the Philippine tradition?

>> Kainan na.

>> Kainan na?

>> In Italian it's mangia.

>> Let's eat.

(laughter) >> Filipinos don't say, "I love you."

They say, "Are you hungry?"

>> LYDIA: Food is love.

>> Food is love.

>> LIDIA: My partner in crime today is Alec Mapa.

Audiences first discovered Alec on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning production of M. Butterfly, but most of us know him as Gabriel Solis's personal shopper, Vern, on ABC's Desperate Housewives and fashion reporter extraordinaire, Suzuki St. Pierre, in Ugly Betty.

>> I grew up in San Francisco, in a very Irish Catholic neighborhood.

My mother's from Manila, my father is from Iloilo.

And my father was an international envoy who came to San Francisco to promote tourism to the Philippines, and it was the first time it had ever been done.

>> LIDIA: It turns out there are almost as many different cultures in the Philippines as there are islands, and there are a lot of islands.

In fact, Miss Philippines of 1994, Charlene Gonzales, was once famously asked... >> How many islands are in the Philippines?

>> High tide or low tide?

(laughter and applause) >> LIDIA : The answer is there are 7,107 islands in the Philippines, a mere 2,000 of them inhabited.

If you go up north, they're more tribal.

If you go to the middle, they're more Spanish.

If you go down south, they're more Muslim, where you see fans and beautiful bamboo.

And it's a dance from that southern region of the island of Mindinao that Kinding Sindaw of New York City performs for Alec and me and tonight's dinner hosts, Melba and Zander.

♪ ♪ This is the Fan Dance of the Magical Butterflies.

And it tells its own story of independence.

It's an indigenous piece from the Maranao Tribe of the Philippines, where a princess is kidnapped by an evil sorcerer and brought to an enchanted island.

♪ ♪ The prince eventually rescues her, but only the magical butterflies-- represented by the two fan dancers-- can guide the royal couple safely back to their kingdom.

♪ ♪ Bravo, bravo!

Bravissima.

>> Thank you, Lidia.

Would you like to join us to dance?

>> LIDIA: I would love to.

Do I take my sandals off?

>> Yes.

>> Yes, you do.

>> Ferragamos aren't traditionally Filipino.

We were watching this really beautiful Filipino dance this morning, and then we were taught the gender roles in the dance are very specific.

>> Just like you're fanning yourself, just like that.

>> I'm in the tropics, it's hot, it's 90 degrees.

(laughter) So Lidia was only taught the dance, and I had to stand off to the side.

>> LIDIA: These are so colorful.

>> They are, they are hand-woven by the Maguindanao tribe, "People of the Valley."

>> Lidia of the Valley tribe, beautiful.

>> LIDIA: Oh, I love the valley, a lot of rice in there.

>> Very versatile, it could be a skirt, it could be a baby carrier.

>> When they harvest for harvest season, they use it as a basket.

>> Filipinos are very multipurpose people.

>> Together with the hands, we use our feet.

And this is called a "pakinikini walk."

Balancing left and right, and swaying a little bit of the hips.

>> LIDIA: Okay, you got that.

>> Yes.

And then when we open our fans, you slip down.

>> LIDIA: You bring it, slip down.

>> Then over.

>> LIDIA: And over.

You know, looking at this, it's just "Oh, I can do this."

Once you're up here, it's not so simple.

>> Yeah, it's like this.

>> It takes time.

(laughs) >> Think of it as mixing something really big.

>> LIDIA: Yes, yes, a big pot of polenta.

>> Polenta.

>> Polenta.

I'm getting this.

>> LIDIA: I'm getting this.

Am I okay, Alec?

>> I think you're a ringer.

It looks like you've done this before.

>> LIDIA: I don't know, I need a little hip movement.

>> So, I think we should try a little music.

>> LIDIA: Absolutely, I'm ready.

♪ ♪ >> So we'll lead them out to their waterfall.

>> LIDIA: Okay.

>> Waterfall.

>> Whoa!

>> LIDIA: Yay!

>> Okay, then we close our fan.

(applause) >> LIDIA: You know, but the grace in your face and being into what you do is beautiful.

>> Is beautiful.

>> LIDIA: Thank you for taking us into your world.

>> Thank you very much.

>> LIDIA: Then it's under the Hudson River to Jersey City, where Alec, Melba and I buy groceries for tonight's big meal.

>> The Phil-Am market.

>> One basket or two?

>> One should be fine.

>> Really?

And you call yourself a Filipino?

♪ ♪ Filipino grocery store, sensory overload.

That brings me back.

I mean that's a very specific smell.

>> LIDIA: What's the smell; the spices?

>> Yes, spices.

>> Fish, and chicken, and pork, and all those like tropical fruits all at once.

Cheez Whiz.

>> LIDIA: No, forget about that.

>> That's a traditional Filipino delicacy.

>> So we're going to make kinilau.

>> Let's all say it... >> Kinilau.

>> Very good.

>> LIDIA: And tell me, so that's like a ceviche?

>> Yes, it's fish, raw fish.

>> What's the Italian pronunciation of it?

>> LIDIA: Ceviche.

>> Ceviche.

I like that too, yeah.

>> LIDIA: Do you have any objections?

>> No, no, I like it.

>> So we need ginger.

>> LIDIA: This is a nice piece.

>> Yeah.

And then we need coconut milk.

>> LIDIA: Okay, how many; two?

>> I think two should be enough, yeah.

>> LIDIA: Two, okay.

♪ ♪ >> You know you're in an ethnic grocery store when there are fruits and vegetables you cannot identify.

Holy cow.

>> It's called sigarilyas.

>> Do I light this up from this end?

Like really, was this grown on Mars?

>> LIDIA: It looks like an okra.

>> Get out.

>> LIDIA: Am I the foreigner here, or are you the foreigner here?

>> I'm the noncooking person here.

>> LIDIA: But in terms of variety, nothing beats the Filipino vinegars.

>> We make vinegar out of what's available.

So this is from palm trees.

>> Okay.

>> LIDIA: A palm tree.

>> And here's a sugar cane vinegar.

>> LIDIA: Look at this coconut vinegar, and it's spiced up with all of these... >> Yeah, it's a spicy one.

>> LIDIA: Which one do you need?

>> We need the pinakurat.

♪ ♪ >> Can I get some fish for kinilau?

>> Kinilau, yes, ma'am.

>> LIDIA: There's tuna, there's swordfish.

>> And king fish.

>> LIDIA: Yeah, and salmon.

>> What are you looking for when you're buying a fresh fish?

>> LIDIA: The brightness of the colors.

You always look at the bloodline, and you want the bloodline to be nice and red.

You don't want it to be brown.

Am I right?

>> Yes, ma'am, you're right.

>> So it's good for six people.

>> LIDIA: And like any proud culture, everyone has an opinion.

>> Yeah, that's good for kinilau, right?

It's better, right?

>> Yeah, that's good.

>> LIDIA: How do you make your kinilau?

>> Vinegar, ginger, garlic.

>> Yeah.

>> And spring onions.

>> I don't put garlic in mine.

>> Okay.

>> LIDIA: How do you say "thank you" in Filipino?

>> Salamat.

>> Marami salamat.

>> That's "thank you very much."

>> LIDIA: Salamat.

>> (speaking Tagalog) ♪ ♪ >> LIDIA: This is a pinakurat.

>> Yeah.

>> It's a spicy vinegar.

>> "Kurat" means... ooh, startled.

>> Ooh, ooh.

>> Things sparkle.

>> So you taste it and go, "Ooh, boy."

I love food.

I could be eating from the time I get up in the morning till the time...

I'm starving, right now.

>> Maybe you can peel some ginger.

>> Peel some ginger.

All right, um... >> LIDIA: So do you know how to peel ginger?

>> How's that happen?

I'm not a very good cook myself.

It's like a potato peeler?

(laughs) >> LIDIA: You are a Filipino, and you don't know how to peel... >> I'm a bad Filipino.

A really great chef is like an opera singer.

You know, it's like I can't do that, but I can appreciate all the talent that goes into it.

>> LIDIA: She doesn't need the whole thing, just this part.

I think that's plenty.

>> Okay.

>> Or, you can actually do it with... >> You can peel it with a spoon?

>> Yes.

Most of the flavor is just right under the skin.

>> LIDIA: This is great information.

>> I'm exhausted, by the way.

>> (laughs) >> I just... it's like blood from a stone at this point.

>> LIDIA: Along with the vinegar, Melba uses a citrus juice from a Filipino fruit called calamansi.

Calamansi, it's citrusy, but what is it?

>> Yeah, this is a really small lime.

>> This is a lime.

>> It's so good.

>> (coughs) >> It's sour.

>> It's sour, but it's a very... >> LIDIA: Puckery sour.

>> Yeah.

I bet that's a real wow factor to this dish when you serve it to people.

>> LIDIA: It's the pinakurat effect.

>> It's a little startling.

(laughter) >> LIDIA: So when the fish turns opaque from the vinegar and calamansi juice, you drain it and... >> In order to stop the cooking, we add in the coconut milk, to neutralize the... >> That cools everything off.

>> LIDIA: Go ahead.

>> Okay, okay.

>> With style, Alec.

>> Like the fan dance this morning.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Figure eights.

Butterfly by the waterfall.

I like how they did this thing.

>> Yeah, you can do it.

(laughter) >> It would be useful.

>> LIDIA: All right.

Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> LIDIA: Mmm... >> It's so good!

>> LIDIA: It's delicious.

There's the texture of the fish, but it's kind of mellowed out.

There's the nice acidity that hits you right on the side of the tongue.

Did you get that?

>> That calamansi juice in it.

>> LIDIA: And then comes the ginger and the scallions.

That's what I feel, what do you feel?

>> I thought it was going to be fishy.

>> It won't because of the ginger, thanks to you.

>> Well, thanks to my hard work, Lidia.

>> LIDIA: I heard, I heard.

>> Yeah.

And each family will think its adobo is the better version.

>> LIDIA: So this dish looks like a meatloaf.

>> It's called embutido.

>> LIDIA: Embutido.

>> It's made with ground pork, I added in raisins, and we put Vienna sausage.

>> LIDIA: Vienna sausage in there?

>> Meatloaf with a hot dog in the middle of it.

(laughter) >> After the World War, the American military left a lot of canned goods in the Philippines.

And so that's where we get Vienna sausage and Spam.

>> So it was like anything related to American PX were a little bit more affluent.

It was like, oh, you could afford that kind of food.

>> Like Spam was the fancy stuff, right?

(laughter) >> LIDIA: That's interesting because I come from a northeast part of Italy, almost a thoroughfare.

Everybody came and went and occupied from the Austrians to the Hungarians.

The Turks came up; the Huns came down.

But I'm Italian.

I cook spaghetti, I make panzanella, but I also cook goulash, I also do strudel; very Hungarian.

I cook with sauerkraut.

>> The Philippines has a very similar history to your region.

It's rich in terms of invaders.

300 years under Spain, 50 years under America, five years under Japan.

And before that, they were actually independent kingdoms that were Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim.

And we were trading with China and Japan.

>> LIDIA: And that reflects in your cuisine.

I mean the adobo is very Spanish, no?

The meatloaf, very American, especially with the frankfurter and so on down the line.

>> So we have rice noodles from China.

Also fish paste.

>> Fish paste scared me.

(laughter) >> LIDIA: So, from the Filipino perspective, independence is not as concrete as one might think.

Yes, they fought a revolution against the Spanish, leading to the signing of their own Declaration of Independence in 1898, but the Spanish didn't recognize it.

In fact, the Spanish eventually just gave the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, and when the States claimed their prize, the Filipinos revolted and the Filipino-American War erupted.

It wasn't until after World War II on July 4, 1946, that the USA officially granted Philippine independence... >> There's this very famous image from Life magazine that I remember seeing as a kid, where they were raising the Filipino flag higher than the American flag for the very first time.

That moment had enormous cultural significance for the people of the Philippines.

>> LIDIA: But you could argue up through the Marcos regime, at least, that the country never truly freed itself from the influences of the West.

Here's one thing you can say: They adapt.

>> Cheers, salute.

>> Salute.

>> LIDIA: Next to the Chinese, they are the largest Asian minority in the USA, and they've made it very much their own with humor to spare.

From the elevation of Spam to haute cuisine, to the famous zingers of beauty queens, even the sauce of Melba's embutido embodies a certain Filipino "If-Life- Gives-You-lemons" philosophy.

>> And on that note, we would add banana ketchup for the embutido.

>> LIDIA: Banana ketchup?

>> Banana ketchup.

We don't have tomatoes, so we use... >> Bananas.

>> Because there are bananas everywhere.

>> It's one of those weird accepted things.

Like, "Pass the banana ketchup."

>> LIDIA: You know, I might change the whole course of gastronomic enjoyment in the Philippines here.

Delicious.

>> It's mostly used on spaghetti.

>> LIDIA: Oh, that's sacrilegious.

(laughter) I don't want to hear that.

I love the rice.

What's those little... >> Garlic.

>> LIDIA: No wonder I liked it.

I was wondering.

♪ ♪ Back in Monticello, we come full circle.

It's the Fourth of July and my new friends are about to take the oath of citizenship on the steps of the historic home of Thomas Jefferson.

>> Somewhere in the back of my head there's this little voice that's saying, "Is it really going to happen now?

Is it going to work out this time?"

I am 33, and I've never had the right to vote anywhere.

>> Me too.

>> My first time.

>> I have... yeah, my first time voting.

>> I also just think it's so cool to be naturalized at Monticello.

You know, Jefferson had ideas that were really forward thinking for his time.

And they're ideas that have influenced so many other countries.

>> I'd invite you to please stand and remain standing.

>> American freedom, to me, really means the freedom to be who you are without fearing that you'll get put in jail for expressing ideas that don't exactly match up with the mainstream.

And I think a lot of Americans don't realize what a remarkable thing that is.

>> Afghanistan... Australia... Belgium... Bhutan... >> Independence means to be able to create the life that you want out of something that you love to do, and that's what freedom is all about, and that's what I found in America, that's why I'm here.

>> Nepal... Pakistan... >> Freedom goes with having responsibility for one's actions towards one's fellow men, women, creatures, people.

Having a respect for different ways of thinking.

Your freedom ends where my nose begins.

(laughs) >> Raise your right hand and repeat after me, please.

I hereby declare on oath.

>> I hereby declare on oath.

>> Independence means you own yourself, you own your opinion.

And any chance we get to celebrate it and marinate in it, it's fantastic.

>> That I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States.

>> I talked to a physicist.

He said, you know, if you're counting stars and two look like one, you've blown it, right?

Isn't that interesting?

If you're counting stars and two look like one, you've blown it.

So the notion that we should be pursuing some idea in America that we're all the same is so flawed.

Because what's fascinating about us is that we are different.

(cheering and applause) >> ♪ With brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

♪ >> LIDIA: Looking around this table, it really is a microcosm of diversity.

To be who we are and our flavors, and our languages, and our religions-- that's the beauty of America, that's what makes America strong.

If we would sit more together at the table like this, we would be a better world.

So congratulations.

Salute, chin-chin.

>> Cheers.

And Faiza, as if she hasn't accomplished enough already, has one last thing she needs to do today.

>> Yes, ma'am, you can.

>> Yes!

I registered to vote on the Fourth of July!

>> ♪ America, America... ♪ >> LIDIA: Congratulations, Faiza.

>> Thank you.

>> LIDIA: Did you congratulate Mom?

Congratulations to you.

>> ♪ ...on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ from sea to... ♪ ♪ shining sea.

♪ (applause)