On June 19, 1865, federal troops marched into Galveston, Texas to ensure all enslaved people would be freed. Their arrival came two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
Today, Juneteenth celebrates and honors that day of freedom for Black Americans.
“The reason why we created the Juneteenth event series was to help educate people on this new federal holiday, one,” said Amand Hardman, co-founder and co-chair of Utah State University’s Juneteenth event series. “But also to have discussions around how Juneteenth and the enslavement of many of our ancestors that identified as African American, how that influences our society, contemporary problems and issues that we still see today."
The event series started when Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. This year was centered around three themes: educate, celebrate, and activate.
Educate
Education came in multiple forms. On Friday, university staff, alumni, academics and community leaders came together for panels on three topics: race and policing, race and parenting, and how Title IX affected Black women student athletes.
There were also educational museum displays by the Utah Black History Museum, such as a book on Pastor France Davis, who served for over 45 years at the Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, the history of the Klu Klux Klan’s presence in Utah, and examples of harmful stereotypes that permeate modern culture.
It wasn't just non-Black people learning new things, either. Aeden Anbesse, the Black and African American student program coordinator in USU's Inclusion Center, said she’s learned a lot since these events started.
“I didn't know about Juneteenth until it became a federal holiday, since I was born and raised in Utah. It's really not a part of the culture here at all," Anbesse said. "And so through the last two years of events, now I'm a part of the planning committee and able to participate, and I feel like I have a good enough grasp on what Juneteenth really is.”
“I think that everybody's able to make that progress, and everybody's able to gain that knowledge and be part of the production in the future as well,” Anbesse continued, “and even go into their own communities in the future and continue this celebration of Juneteenth.”
Celebrate
Saturday focused more on the celebrate theme with a 5K and Fun Run in honor of Mignon Barker Richmond, the first Black student and Black woman to graduate from a university in Utah, as well as a community barbecue.
“Getting individuals within our community that otherwise don't see Black faces that are on campus in the community I think is a huge deal for us,” Hardman said. “How do we get into the community, because we also live in the community. And so bringing all of us together I think is such an important deal.”
Activate
The final theme, activate, brought historical contexts to contemporary issues—for example, how to have difficult conversations in the household. According to panel moderator Michelle Love-Day, founder of RISE Virtual Academy and a DEI educator, the key is being comfortable with discomfort.
“We have to be uncomfortable. And ask yourself when we're having these conversations, are you unsafe, right?” Love-Day said. “It may not be something that you're not familiar with, but are you unsafe?”
The events finished with a concert from the USU Aggie Alumni Band and the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir. The concert highlighted Black composers and soloists and ended with a back and forth between the performers and the audience.
Looking forward
According to Anbesse, the end of the busy weekend doesn’t mean they’re done educating, celebrating or activating.
“Our office spends a lot of the summer just like planning and preparing and brainstorming for what we want to do for the following two semesters,” Anbesse said. “And I'm really, really excited for what our office and what programs I'm going to be able to provide for Black students and what the future will hold for us.”
And for Hardman, he hopes Juneteenth events like this one will continue to spread and grow.
“We're hoping that we can continue to pave the way for other universities to recognize the importance of Black excellence, Black joy, bringing communities together, because it's bigger than just me or bigger than just Aeden [Anbesse],” Hardman said. “It takes a whole village to get this type of event done each and every year.”
