Celebrating Juneteenth

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A Message from DEIB Director, Dr. Ruth Shoge.

Juneteenth, short for June Nineteenth, is a celebration of the effective end of slavery in the US in 1865. Union troops arrived in Galveston Texas on June 19th to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. This came two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, by President Abraham Lincoln; which proclaimed that as of January 1, 1863, enslaved people in the confederacy shall be forever free. Juneteenth is considered the longest-running African American holiday in the US, but was largely unheard of by many until it officially became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021.

This year Juneteenth lands on a Sunday, which means the university will be observing it on Monday, June 20th.

There will be no class or clinical assignment on Monday June 20th.

Please use this time to learn and reflect on the importance of this holiday and consider ways you can engage with the Black community.

Below you can find some additional resources and local events that you may find interest in:

Books
On Juneeteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Podcasts
Ben Franklin’s World: Annette Gordo-Reed, On Juneteenth
Code Switch: “A Taste of Freedom”
Food with Mark Bittman: “Juneteenth”

Events
Juneteenth Food and Music Festival, Oakland, Friday June 17th
Jazzteenth, San Francisco, Friday and Saturday June 17th and June 18th
Afrocentric Oakland’s Juneteenth Weekend, Oakland, Saturday June 18th
Juneteenth Freedom Day at the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Saturday June 18th
Annual Berkeley Juneteenth Festival, Berkeley, Sunday June 19th

About Dr. Shoge DEIB