What does Juneteenth mean to you?

 1655535874 
1718715600

Wednesday is Juneteenth. a holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. The date goes back to 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their emancipation.  During our recent News and Brews community pop-up at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, we asked people what Juneteenth means to them.

Tiffani Saxton

Juneteenth to me is an opportunity to honor the truth of the history that we all share together, an opportunity to consider how we were formed, how we’ve changed, the work that we will continue to do together to make this nation all that it is meant to be.

John Vereen

Juneteenth is a great opportunity to apply history into the present for the betterment of kindness, love integrity, respect and peace. That’s what it really means to me. It’s the opportunity to understand how we behaved in the past and that we gained freedom and the be able to celebrate that, double down on the things that are going to make us better as we move forward.

Benita Wilson

I’m happy that there is a celebration for Black people. And I think it’s another day that allows us to have more information. But I’m also a July 4th person. So that’s the holiday that I’ve celebrated most of my life.

Elizabeth Vanderkamp

I am so grateful to know about Juneteenth because, I’m 60, and in my growing up years there was no such holiday. And I feel like in the past 10 years part of my work has been to re-educate myself and learn about the history I wasn’t taught. But there’s this whole history of women, history of African Americans, history of all kinds of people that have made the United States and I want to be part of celebrating that.

Auroré-Denise Ragston

One thing is it’s a holiday. I like holidays. So I like having the day off. Being a Texan and thinking “we’re number one in the world,” to see one of our days as a holiday and to see what it took to get it recognized. Sometimes when I’m in Texas, that heat is so unbearable. And I think about my ancestors being in that field. My dad, he grew up a sharecropper. But the other part is the sense of pride and gratitude for my ancestors.

 

Florida Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Oilers in 6 games

The Florida Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions, becoming the NHL's first back-to-back winners since Tampa Bay in 2020 and '21 and the third team to do it this century.

Anne Burrell, TV chef who coached the ‘Worst Cooks in America,’ dies at 55

TV chef Anne Burrell, who coached culinary fumblers through hundreds of episodes of "Worst Cooks in America," has died. Medical examiners are set to determine what caused her death.

Goliath the Galápagos tortoise celebrated his first Father’s Day and 135th birthday

Goliath had been paired with several female tortoises before, in hopes of producing a hatchling, but the process wasn't successful until earlier this month.

NAACP won’t invite Trump to its national convention, breaking a 116-year tradition

President Trump is the first U.S. president in 116 years that the NAACP hasn't invited to the annual convention. The group says Trump is attacking democracy and civil rights.

As Israel turns its focus to Iran, the death toll mounts in Gaza — and hunger deepens

Palestinians say Israeli forces killed scores of people trying to reach food aid in Khan Younis on Tuesday in the deadliest attack of recent weeks on hungry crowds attempting to get food in Gaza.

4 things to know as the war between Israel and Iran intensifies

Panic and confusion gripped Iran's capital, Tehran, as Israel warned civilians to evacuate or face more potential strikes as conflict between the two countries spilled into its fifth day.

More Arts and Culture Coverage