Martin Luther King Jr. famously ended his “I Have a Dream” speech with the iconic phrase “Free at Last.” But what did it really mean — especially for those who were finally gaining their freedom after slavery was abolished?

Answering that question is at the heart of the children’s picture book “Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem” by author Sojourner Kincaid Rolle and illustrator Alex Bostic.

Bostic resides in Starkville and has served as an associate professor in the Department of Art at Mississippi State University for over a decade.

Bostic will appear at the Juneteenth Tailgate Party in Columbus June 19. It will be held from 4-6 p.m. at the Roger Short Soccer Complex as part of several local events celebrating Juneteenth over the holiday weekend.

Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday in 2021 and has been celebrated in Lowndes County for at least 26 years. It began in Galveston, Texas, and references the date June 19, 1865, when the state finally enforced the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freeing those who had been enslaved.

Bostic received national attention last year when his portrait of Edmonia Lewis, a Black and Native American sculptor who lived during the late 19th century, was revealed as the design of a new postage stamp. He wrote a tribute to Lewis that will appear as an afterword to Lee Ann Timreck’s forthcoming book “Pieces of Freedom,” which will be published in August by the University Press of Mississippi.

Bostic also has gone on to illustrate another children’s book about Black history. In “Small Shoes, Great Strides,” which will be released on Nov. 7, Bostic collaborated with author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson to depict the story of Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost, who integrated a New Orleans public elementary school as first graders in 1960.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be an artist?
The first time I realized I wanted to be an artist was when I was 7 years old. I was given art lessons by my brother Charles Bostic, who was better than I was. … When I realized I couldn’t draw as well as he can, I came up with a way for him to teach me. He did, and that was when I first started realizing that I wanted to be an artist.

Which forms of media do you usually work in and why?
The medium I usually work in is oil. I love oil. It moves and it’s fluid. But I also can do watercolors, acrylic, pastels, gouache and casein.

What was your approach to creating the illustrations for “Free at Last”?
My approach for illustrating the book “Free at Last” was: First, read the manuscript. Then do a series of sketches for each page. They get OK’d by the art director. Then do revisions from that. Complete those revisions and then start painting. Then get revision from the paintings. The job takes from eight months to a year to complete.

What meaning does the poem by Sojourner Kincaid Rolle in “Free at Last” hold for you?
The poem meant quite a bit for me because it’s very historical. It has a lot of truth and a lot of change to it, and it’s very lyrical in its presentation. It was a lot of fun trying to put an image to her words, and because she was very descriptive, it made it easy.

As a native New Yorker, how did you wind up in Mississippi?
Well, really, I did not move from New York to Mississippi. It was a long journey to a variety of other places. Kansas City, Missouri, was one place that I lived, and then after that I moved to California. Then after that I moved back to New York, and then after that I moved to Richmond, Virginia, and then now I’m here in Mississippi. So it was a 43-year-long journey, and that’s how I came to Mississippi, and I wound up teaching at Mississippi State University.

Emily Liner is the owner of Friendly City Books, an independent bookstore and press in Columbus.