Still unfamiliar with Juneteenth? Get up to speed here. The Atlantic offers some reading suggestions, including this take on Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth: Back in 2021, about a month before Juneteenth became a federal holiday, The Atlantic published an excerpt from Annette Gordon-Reed’s […]
Juneteenth
Juneteenth before Juneteenth
Historians Susannah J. Ural and Ann Marsh Daly tell the stories of Black men and women celebrating emancipation well before Juneteenth became a holiday. Here is a taste of their piece at The Atlantic: In a quiet corner of a library at […]
The Christian Right “Road to Majority” conference opens with a sermon: “Blacks have become the cheap prostitutes of the Democratic Party”
Ralph Reed’s Christian Right gathering this weekend began with a sermon by Black preacher John M. Amanchukwu. Amanchukwu is a former North Carolina State football player, a graduate of Liberty University, and appears on shows such as The Charlie Kirk […]
Juneteenth has always been “distinctly local” commemoration
Historian Tiya Miles wonders how the celebration of Juneteenth might change now that it is a federal holiday. Here is a taste of her piece today at The New York Times: It’s been two years since Juneteenth became a federal […]
Juneteenth is the answer to Frederick Douglass’s question: “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
Here is historian Peniel Joseph at CNN: Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the end of slavery by a Union major general in Texas. Long celebrated in Black communities from coast to coast, it has been a Texas state holiday […]
Celebrating Juneteenth–together
Historian Tara Strauch reminds us that laws don’t truly make holidays. We have to learn how to celebrate them together. In her recent piece at The Washington Post she compares the acceptance of Juneteenth with the celebration of another regional […]
Juneteenth roundup
Here’s what you need to know about Juneteenth: Some basics It is now a federal holiday. NPR staff members read the Emancipation Proclamation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1xOPt455pg A Juneteenth playlist Kate Masur: Juneteenth is just the start Can the Juneteenth holiday be Black […]
Add Charlie Kirk to the list of those who oppose making Juneteenth a federal holiday
The Trump court evangelical joins the fourteen members of Congress who opposed making Juneteenth a federal holiday. As he is prone to do, the supposedly God-fearing Kirk had a hissy fit on Twitter:
The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act passes House, Senate.
When Biden signs the bill June 19th, the day celebrating the emancipation of enslaved Americans, will become a federal holiday. On Tuesday, the Senate endorsed the bill unanimously. Yesterday, the House passed the bill by a vote of 415-14. Here […]