![]() In addition to celebrating the struggle for equality and remembering the horrors of slavery, Juneteenth also affords an opportunity to “commit ourselves anew to liberty and justice for all,” Kimberly Goff-Crews, University Secretary and Vice President for University Life, said in a June 13 letter to the Yale community. “The holiday gives us the chance to celebrate the end of slavery to remember the experiences, labor, and lives of enslaved people and to recognize the contributions of members of the Black community to this country.” “Juneteenth is a day of reflection and rejoicing, as well as a moment to acknowledge the long civil rights movement,” Salovey wrote in a message to the university community. ![]() Last month, Yale President Peter Salovey announced that Juneteenth (celebrated on June 19 or the closest weekday date) would be an annual university holiday for which staff will be paid or will receive compensatory time off if they must work then. In June 2021, President Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth the first new federal holiday since President Ronald Reagan established Martin Luther King Jr. While President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier, enslavers in some parts of the country ignored it. Juneteenth recognizes the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union Army troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the freedom of enslaved people there. ![]() Juneteenth has been commemorated in many African-American communities for more than a century, but most Americans have only recently begun learning about the history and significance of the historic day. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |