Why this? Why now?
Observation of holidays and significant events are a way that cultures communicate what is important. That is why the CCCOER EDI Committee is asking you to examine how you can observe the legal public holiday of Juneteenth. While Juneteenth is specific to the United States, where it is a federal holiday, we encourage people in other parts of the world to think about the significance of Juneteenth in our political and cultural context and think about similar holidays or days of observation in your own contexts.
As citizens of this world, we’ve all benefited from the exploitation of enslaved and colonized people, therefore we need to recognize the legacies of oppression so that we can unravel and replace the systems that perpetuate unjust societies. Part of the work is marking important events where our social and political systems took courageous steps away from oppression.
While June 19, 1865, didn’t end our nation’s ongoing struggle to build equity (or even equality) for everyone, the day does mark an important step toward an equitable society. If social justice is a process and a journey, we need to be able to mark points in our journey where we know actions made a difference, so that we can plan for more of those celebration points in our future.
What is Juneteenth?
On June 17, 2022, in A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2022, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signed a proclamation that reads in part:
Juneteenth is a day to reflect on both bondage and freedom — a day of both pain and purpose. It is, in equal measure, a remembrance of both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, as well as a celebration of the promise of a brighter morning to come. On Juneteenth, we remember our extraordinary capacity to heal, to hope, and to emerge from our worst moments as a stronger, freer, and more just Nation. It is also a day to celebrate the power and resilience of Black Americans, who have endured generations of oppression in the ongoing journey toward equal justice, equal dignity, equal rights, and equal opportunity in America.
While I could spend some time rewriting the history of Juneteenth, I think it’s more appropriate to direct you to some OERs that better describe the holiday.
In the San Antonio Review, William O. Pate II writes about the complicated legal history of the end of slavery in the United States in this short writing about Juneteenth. (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License)
In a blog post, The Birth of Juneteenth; Voices of the Enslaved, Neely Tucker for the Library of Congress describes the scene where more than 150 enslaved workers were informed of their emancipation, by their oppressor. This piece is powerful, and it examines the legacy of slavery, Juneteenth, and of racism and slavery that still takes the lives of Black men and women. (Original post crafted by an employee of the US Government as part of their job, in the public domain.)
The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library has a great series of short videos of local people discussing their experience of Juneteenth. (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License)
While the mention of Juneteenth is somewhat short in this article in New Canadian Media by Marcus Medford, we are reminded that Canada and the United Kingdom have a similar day of celebration called Emancipation Day. (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License)
How to Celebrate
I wanted to write this blog post to encourage my community and myself to commemorate Juneteenth. The holiday was new to me in 2020, and I’m still not sure of the best practices for celebrating. Here are some things that I’ll be trying:
Research Events & Share Them
What is your local community doing to celebrate Juneteenth? A quick Google search brought up a local community event on June 19. I also found an event at the state historical society. Many local organizers are honoring Juneteenth, and I urge you to find out what is happening closer to you.
At Work
Highlight OER that discuss Juneteenth, such as those that are mentioned above. I plan to focus on local history. I’m also planning to reach out to our history instructors to ask how their course materials acknowledge and honor Juneteenth. How have they covered it in the past? Would they like to incorporate an open resource that helps tell the story of Juneteenth?
Recognize Systems of Oppression
Celebrating Juneteenth, as President Biden’s proclamation notes, is not just a day of remembrance, but also a day of purpose. That purpose is to draw attention to the systems that supported legal slavery in our past, and that support racism and injustice (both legal and illegal) today. As you think about celebrating this day, consider systems of oppression that perpetuate harm on the descendants of enslaved people. Identify systems that exacerbate inequity and injustice in our social frameworks, and begin to undo those systems of oppression by not participating in them or by challenging them. Ask hard questions about systemic racism in your own professional practice, and make a commitment to unravel your part of the system. Be an agent of change by recognizing Juneteenth as a national holiday marking an important event in Black history in the US, by acknowledging the legacy of three centuries of legalized slavery on the descendants of enslaved people, and by accepting our collective responsibility as citizens to take action to create a more equitable and just society.
A Note from the Author
I’m a middle-aged, educated, white woman whose training is in librarianship. I was born and raised in the United States, and I still practice my profession here. This is important in the context of this writing because I live in a country whose systems were mostly designed to support and protect my privileges. I even trained in a profession that evolved mostly around women of my class and race. This isn’t to say that women are well-represented in OER, but white women in particular are definitely more represented in our open education movement than colleagues who have been marginalized and continue to work within and against the systems that have been so supportive of my success. As an open education practitioner, I am working to build equity in our profession by elevating the work of colleagues who don’t have the privileges I enjoy. I’m also trying to use my privileges, such as having long-term academic employment in a stable institution that encourages my anti-racism and inclusion work, to advocate for more diverse, inclusive, and equitable practices in our field.
This brings me to the subject of this blog post, Juneteenth. While for many many in the US, this year’s Juneteenth will be a day off in mid-June, I encourage you to make it more for yourself and for your institution by examining how the history of Juneteenth can inform your educational practices.
Featured Image: Juneteenth Image by Riki32 from Pixabay, Free to use under Pixabay License