Juneteenth
A celebration of the beauty, power, innate value and diversity of Black Americans.
Understanding Juneteenth
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Liberation Day or Jubilee Day, is a holiday celebrating America’s nascent steps in actualizing our constitutional promises of freedom and equality. Juneteenth represents evidence of effort to create equity in our laws and inclusion in our environments. Watch and share this video to understand the significance of Juneteenth, its historical context, implications, and what it means for our shared future.
What You Can DoBuying Black isn't a gesture. It's how dollars become community, and how a holiday becomes a practice.
Freedom Is Practiced, Not Observed
A holiday becomes a practice when belief turns into behavior. Below are trusted directories and marketplaces for finding and supporting Black-owned businesses — a simple way to let your dollars do what your values say.
Find a business anywhere
BuyBlack.org — The largest national directory, with 110,000+ Black-owned businesses you can search by category or city.
ByBlack — Certification and directory from the U.S. Black Chambers; a trusted way to find verified Black-owned companies.
Buy From A Black Woman — A directory dedicated to Black women–owned businesses
Eat well
EatOkra — The go-to app for finding Black-owned restaurants near you, connecting 330,000+ diners nationwide.
Read something.
Buying Black is one form of showing up. So is doing the work to understand why the day matters. A few books worth sitting with — not the comfortable kind, the kind that change how you see.
Afropessimism
By: Frank B. Wilderson III
Wilderson makes the case that anti-Blackness isn't something the system got wrong — it's the thing the whole system is built on. Sat with me for weeks.
Privilege, Power, and Difference
By: Allan G. Johnson
The one to hand someone who says "but I'm not racist." Johnson breaks down how privilege runs on autopilot — and what stepping off that path actually looks like.
Mapping the Language of Racism
By: Margaret Wetherell & Jonathan Potter
Two researchers in New Zealand recorded how people actually talk about race, and found the racism mostly came out as reasonable-sounding excuses. Read it and you start catching it everywhere — including in your own language.
Covert Racism
By: Rodney D. Coates
What racism turned into once it wasn't okay to say out loud anymore. Coates digs into the policies and everyday habits that keep injustice running quietly.
“Hold On”
In honor of Juneteenth, watch Performance Paradigm's original song and music video "Hold On.”
Juneteenth Artwork
Designed by Performance Paradigm, we encourage you to post, share, and/or print this original artwork that illustrates the complexity of Juneteenth.
Juneteenth
The Past, Present & Future
January 1, 1863 - Emancipation Proclamation
Limited freedom
During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln freed slaves in the Confederate States only. The proclamation went into effect at midnight on January 1, 1863 and it is believed that the first Watch Night church services were in anticipation of the coming freedom promised by the Emancipation Proclamation.
January 31, 1865 - Thirteenth Amendment Passes
Slavery is abolished with one exception
The Thirteenth Amendment is passed by Congress and is added to the United States Constitution. It is only through this amendment that slavery is abolished in the United States. However, the amendment carves out an exception for convicted prisoners who can still be subjected to involuntary servitude.
June 19, 1865 -
Enslaved Texans learn of their freedom
Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to take control of the 13th Army Corps. Granger and his men marched through Galveston reading General Order No. 3, which announced news of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all remaining slaves in the state. Although Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation almost three years earlier, the Civil War ended one month earlier, and the passage of the 13th Amendment six months earlier. The news was slow to travel to all parts of the country. This is the day commemorated by the Juneteenth celebrations.
1896 - Separate But Equal
An oxymoron
The Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson codified the efforts of the former Confederate States who, despite the passing of the 13th Amendment, still wanted to exert supremacy and control over their former slaves. The Plessy decision allowed states to legally discriminate based on race.
1953 - Civil Rights Era Begins
Decades after Plessy v. Ferguson the nation began to dismantle the concept of separate but equal. In the 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education the Supreme Court ruled that the separate but equal doctrine was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Era would later result in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
June 17, 2021 - Juneteenth National Independence Act
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signs legislation making June 19th a legal public holiday commemorating the celebration of the freedom of the former slaves of Galveston, TX in 1865. Shortly thereafter jurisdictions, across the nation adopted the new holiday as well.
President Biden signs Juneteenth National Independence Act
President Biden on signs Juneteenth National Independence Day Act: "I've only been president for several months, but I think this will go down for me as one of the greatest honors I will have had as president. Not because I did it. You did it, Democrats and Republicans."
Equity, Inclusion & Diversity
Looking for ways to celebrate and honor Juneteenth?
Here are a few actions you can start today and put into practice every single day of the year:
Have R.I.C.H. Dialogues about Juneteenth using our self-study guide and workbook.
Seek opportunities to experience Black culture both locally and globally.
Expand your comfort radius zone (CZR) - ask yourself, how you can diversify your universe.
Connect with us to learn more about our learning solutions and the immersive experiences we create.