Last week, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a national holiday! Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States and is celebrated each year on June 19th. Please check out this video from the Chancellor, and the resources below.
Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States and is celebrated each year on June 19th. The date itself marks the day in 1865, two and half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, that troops entered Galveston, Texas and announced that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved Black Americans had their freedom. The date has been celebrated since, growing beyond Galveston and being recognized as an official holiday first by Texas in 1980. New York State will officially recognize Juneteenth as a holiday for the first time in 2021, following legislation signed in October of 2020.
Teaching and learning the history of Juneteenth in our school communities is critical to understanding who we are as a nation. Learning about Juneteenth is part of a broader education of the practice, impact, and legacy of slavery that speaks to Black history in this country—and therefore American history at large. Today, we offer resources for this teaching, learning, and thinking about Juneteenth for both families and educators. Many of our educators have long engaged their students in the history of Juneteenth, and we hope these resources complement those efforts. While the resources included here are particularly applicable to June 19th, this is work for today, tomorrow, and beyond. Please see our resource guide and updated family-facing website.
