Commemorating Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom with Enriching Cultural and Educational Resources

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, marks our country’s second independence day and is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved Black people in America. This important day in American history is marked with parades, prayer, dancing, and family gatherings. The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture and Teach for America offer a rich compilation of resources, including lesson plans, books, videos, and classroom guides, to enrich conversations around this significant day. We invite you to share any dialogue and deliberation resources in the comments below.

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Juneteenth - from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture

Join the museum’s Juneteenth celebration – during the entire month of June – and embrace the rich history of Freedom Day each week. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free. This day came to be known as Juneteenth, now officially a federal holiday. Juneteenth is a time to celebrate, gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future.

Select an Area to Explore More: Each link has robust resources

• The First Juneteenth: On June 19, 1865, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas with news of freedom. More than 250,000 African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in what became known as Juneteenth or Freedom Day. With the principles of self-determination, citizenship, and democracy magnifying their hopes and dreams, those Texans held fast to the promise of true liberty for all.
• A Freedom Deferred: With the end of slavery, searching for family members who had been separated or sold away became the focus of many formerly enslaved individuals. The number of years of separation did not deter people from hoping to reunite with lost loved ones. Newspaper advertisements, letters and word of mouth were all employed as part of the search. The hope was that a positive response might lead to a reunion with family members.    
• Tastes of Resilience: Explore the symbolism of red foods as a sign of resilience and joy. The color red is highly associated with the cultures that would've come through the later years of the TransAtlantic slave trade, which would have been Yoruba and Kongo. People from the Yoruba of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo; and the Kongo of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Gabon—placed great philosophical and spiritual value in the color red as it symbolizes sacrifice, transition and power.  
• Sounds of Freedom: Celebrate the ways enslaved people sung their way to freedom. Highlighting songs of survival and negro spirituals. Listen to music that symbolizes hope, joy and perseverance and honors Black Americans' lives, legacy, resilience and self-sufficiency.
  
• Juneteenth Today: In 2021, Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday, opening it to symbolic and global interpretation and providing a better understanding of the evolution of our nation and its people. Juneteenth celebrations then, like now, recognize the ongoing fight for human rights and equality and are commemorated through family cookouts, faith services, musical performances and storytelling. Today, Juneteenth celebrates African American resilience and achievement while aiding in the preservation of those historical narratives that promoted racial and personal advancement since Freedom Day. 

​More Resources:

• Digital Toolkit
• Reading List
• Commemorative Collection
• Community Day

Learn more at: https://nmaahc.si.edu/juneteenth

Teach for America

Known also as African American Independence Day, Jubilee Day, or Freedom Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the emancipation of enslaved Black people in America. Explore ways to commemorate June 19 in the classroom with lesson plans, books, and more resources.   

Learning About Juneteenth
The links below offer an entry point into the history of the holiday, and its extra resonance this year. 

• What Is Juneteenth? –Delve into the history of the holiday with this article from Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• This Is Why Juneteenth Is Important for America – This video from the Root describes the birth of Juneteenth. 
• Celebrating Juneteenth – In this video, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian leads a tour through a Juneteenth exhibition. 
• Black-ish Juneteenth Animated Short — This animated short created for ABC’s Black-ish is full of education and satire. 

Juneteenth Teaching Resources
For schools that are still in session, the following resources are a helpful way for teachers to engage students in conversations and projects. 

• Teaching Juneteenth – This page from Learning for Justice offers several frameworks for teaching the history of Juneteenth. 
• The Meaning of Fourth of July to the Enslaved by Frederick Douglass — Read the full text of this powerful speech from Frederick Douglass, where he describes the 4th of July to the American slave as “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” 
• Monologue by James Earl Jones — Or, have students listen to actor James Earl Jones read the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States.”
• Juneteenth Classroom Guide - A classroom guide for the book Juneteenth Jamboree, that’s appropriate for students in grades K-5. 
• Juneteenth Lesson plans - Lesson plans via My Fresh Plans. 
• Juneteenth: Teaching Culture as Resistance, Grade Level 6-8 – Lesson plans and teaching strategies from Learning for Justice for grades six to eighth.  
• Juneteenth Learning Plan, Grade Level 3-5 – Lesson plans and teaching strategies from Learning for Justice for grades three to five.

Books and Movies 
Share these books and movies, which celebrate Black people and culture in the United States, with students. 

• 10 Children’s Books Celebrating Juneteenth — From the Colours of Us, here are books about Juneteenth for kids ages five to 18. 
• 10 Books to Celebrate Juneteenth No Matter Your Age - Black & Bookish shares a roundup of books for Juneteenth. 

These recommended books are appropriate for teenager and adult readers: 

• Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement - Angela Davis 
• Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District – Hannibal B. Johnson
• Jubilee: The Emergence of African American Culture by Hannibal B. Johnson
• Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope – bell hooks
• How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi 
• Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom – bell hooks
• Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery, and Emancipation – C. Peter Ripley
• Juneteenth - Ralph Ellison
• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism - Robin DiAngelo

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URL: www.teachforamerica.org/celebrate-juneteenth