Celebrating Liberation

June 19th, or “Juneteenth” is the date of the announcement of the liberation of our Black ancestors from enslavement in 1865.

Juneteenth has transformed from a regional celebration originating in Galveston Texas to a national holiday that honors the hard fought and won freedom from enslavement of Black people in the United States. This freedom was delayed, however, as the Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect two years earlier.

In the spirit of this holiday, we recognize the ways our current society has delayed freedom for all those oppressed and continue to work to guarantee this freedom. Remember that our liberation is interconnected, and if one is oppressed, then we all are. May this day serve as a time of remembrance for those who came before us, a celebration of all that has been accomplished thus far, and a call to co-create communities that are healed and free.

Learn more about Juneteenth from the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Juneteenth: Celebration of Resilience.

Online Resources

• Juneteenth: A Novel (Ralph Ellison)
• Freedom’s Gifts: A Juneteenth Story (Valerie Wesley)
• Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African American Folklore (Francis Edward Abernethy, senior editor; Carolyn Fiedler Satterwhite, assistant editor; coeditors, Patrick B. Mullen and Alan B. Govenar)
• “Juneteenth” (Season 4, Episode 1) from Black-ish
• Resources for Black Folks (curated by Dr. Laila McCloud and Mika Karikari)
• BLM Instructional Library
• Juneteenth Fact Sheet (Congressional Research Service)
• Juneteenth Music Festival

Additional Readings

• Juneteenth! (Anna Pearl Barrett)
• Juneteenth (Vaunda Micheaux Nelson)
• Juneteenth Jamboree (Carole Boston Weatherford)
• Come Juneteenth (Ann Rinaldi)