Research Guides: Juneteenth: National Freedom Day

Events

Celebrating Juneteenth Series - Past Recordings

Langston Hughes: Relevant Yesterday, Even More Relevant Today! - March 10, 2022 Recording As part of the Celebrating Juneteenth Series Spring 2022, the Center for Culture and Social Justice presented this event on March 10, 2022, featuring Dr. Ronald C. McCurdy.
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Recording files are available to view or download on the recording detail page. Passcode: Ga337=ZW
How Did Emancipation Really Impact The Enslaved African? - May 17, 2022 Recording This lecture addresses the dimension of Emancipation and how it truly impacted the enslaved African. It will also explore the brief period and impact of reconstruction and the events that followed in the ensuing years.
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Recording files are available to view or download on the recording detail page. Passcode: ^Dq$q2Ze
Disrupting Racism Through The Lens of the Arts - Recording coming soon! This virtual presentation addresses historical artistic creations demonstrating how art has been used to confront racism in America. Starting with the Negro spiritual and how it was used to “praise” God while revolting against slavery. Other examples will include Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, Paul Robeson’s Ole Man River, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and many other artistic examples to demonstrate how the arts helped to define and mitigate the struggle for freedom and equality among African Americans.

Media Resources

The History and Celebration of Juneteenth June 19 — Juneteenth — commemorates the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free.
Juneteenth Jamboree: From a Free Place to Displace With the Galveston landing of U.S. Army Gen. Gordon Granger in 1865, slavery in Texas ended. African bondsmen became freedmen, and women and children likewise became African Americans. Many left the plantations to join freedom colonies; others sought out opportunities in cities and towns. Today, the consequences of gentrification and rising property values challenge new generations.
Ellison's Unfinished Work John Callahan salvaged part of the “Hickman” story which was published posthumously as “Juneteenth.” Toni Morrison read a passage from the novel at its launch event.
What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth recognizes the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, signaling to slaves living in the farthest reaching U.S. state at the time that they were freed. Mark Anthony Neal of Duke University said Granger's announcement made a point that even though they were free, “the formerly enslaved would continue to work, try to pursue wages, and their idleness would not be accepted." Neal, a professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University, joined William Brangham of the PBS NewsHour on June 18 to speak about Juneteenth.
Juneteenth: a Story and a Song (Featured video on Juneteeth Celebration - Black Joy with Alexander James CCSJ event) Happy Juneteenth! To celebrate this holiday, I wrote a song breaking-down the story. (And, yes, by breaking-down, I mean I rap). Take a listen and let me know what you think! -Charlie Malcolm

Books

Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration by Edward T. Cotham; Edward T. Cotham
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781649670007
Publication Date: 2021-05-25
Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison; John F. Callahan (Editor)
Call Number: F E475 j (at Rancho Library)
ISBN: 9780394464572
Publication Date: 1999-05-29

Juneteenth Celebration - Black Joy with Alexander James was presented by the Center for Culture and Social Justice (CCSJ) on June 17, 2021.

Resources

A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021 A White House Proclamation on June 17, 2021.
Juneteenth: Celebration of Resilience Juneteenth is a time to gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future. Discover ways to celebrate this African American cultural tradition of music, food and freedom.
Teach the Black Freedom Struggle: Reconstruction and Juneteenth June 19, 2020: This thirteenth People's Historians Online mini-class was on Reconstruction and Juneteenth. Greg Carr, associate professor of Africana Studies and chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, was in conversation with Jessica Rucker, electives teacher and department chair at E.L. Haynes Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C.
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Learn more from Dr. Carr in Karen Hunter's
In Class with Carr: What is Juneteenth? (Ep. 13)
The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.
James Hemings: America's First Chef American Culinary Founding Father, James Hemings is attributed with creating dishes such as macaroni and cheese, vanilla ice cream, French fries, crème brulée, meringues, whipped cream—the list goes on.
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Learn more about Chef James Hemings in History on a Plate and Chef Hercules Posey.
Ralph Ellison and the Paradox of "Juneteenth" ABSTRACT The question of identity has remained crucial in the American psyche and has been reflected in all of its literature. By and large, "Juneteenth" in a paradoxical manner also attempts a definition of the American identity. Delving into the lives of and relationship between Daddy Hickman and Bliss/Sunraider, Ellison demonstrates that essentially there is "no"difference between a Black man and a White man. This is amplified throughout the novel by the movement the Black characters make from the periphery at the beginning of the story to the very heart and "soul" of the novel. The convergence of the lives of Bliss/Sunraider and Hickman is reflected as they reminisce and echo each other. A symbol throughout the novel as he begins life in the coffin/womb, Bliss/Sunraider, now a U.S. senator but formerly a preacher and then subsequently a movie man, will be shot at by his son with a Black woman. As Bliss/Sunraider and Hickman look back at the trials and tribulations of their lives, Ellison lets readers see in no small way that they are only men, one no better than the other.
Juneteenth Celebration JUNETEENTH.com promotes unity, freedom, achievement and self-esteem through the celebration of Juneteenth across the nation and beyond.
Juneteenth : The Story Behind the Celebration Juneteenth has been touted as a national day celebrating the end of slavery. Observances from coast to coast have turned this event into part of the national conversation about race, slavery, and how Americans understand, acknowledge, and explain what has been called the national "original sin." But, why Juneteenth? Where did this celebration--which promises to become a national holiday--come from? What is the origin story? What are the facts, and legends, around this important day in the nation's history? This is the first scholarly book to delve into the history behind Juneteenth. Using decades of research in archives around the nation, this book helps separate myth from reality and tells the story behind the celebration in a way that provides new understanding and appreciation for the event. This book will captivate people interested in the history of emancipation and African American history but also those interested in Civil War and Texas history. As the United States continues to wrestle with race relations and the meaning of full equality, Juneteenth promises to become an important expression of that equality--an Independence Day celebration in its own right, a couple of weeks in advance of the traditional July 4th Holiday. This book will be a welcome addition to classrooms, book clubs and general readers interested in this once obscure regional event now destined for the national spotlight.
Black Lives Matter and Black History Library Guides