The Platform Launch Commemorated the 155th Anniversary of Juneteenth
(left to right) Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first African American and first historian to serve as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Moni Tep, program director and co-facilitator of a number of art programs in Seattle, WA; and Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole, anthropologist, educator, museum director, and the first female African American president of Spelman College
Nationwide — On June 19th, six leading Black museums and historical institutions from coast to coast have joined forces to launch BLKFREEDOM.org, a digital commemoration of Juneteenth, the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced, ending enslavement in Texas.
BLKFREEDOM.org aired an original video presentation featuring appearances from Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first African American and first historian to serve as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole, anthropologist, educator, museum director, and the first female African American president of Spelman College, and the Honorable Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library.
The launch of BLKFREEDOM.org commemorated the 155th Anniversary of Juneteenth. Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when union soldier, Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with the news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
BLKFREEDOM.org is a combined effort between Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI), Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (Hill Head Island, SC), Northwest African American Museum (Seattle, WA), Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater (Miami, FL), National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH), and the National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN). Through educational content, artistic performances, and shareable discussion prompts, this collaborative program will explore the meaning and relevance of “freedom”, “justice” and “democracy” in Black American life, from a historical and contemporary framework.
To learn more and subscribe for updates, visit blkfreedom.org.
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