In San Antonio, Texas, community members and advocates gathered outside of the federal courthouse on October 2, 2023 with emblazoned signs in hand, shouting spirited chants. As a trial was underway inside, echoes of their rallying calls for voting rights reverberated through the city streets. Candace Wicks, a retired teacher who traveled 300 miles from Dallas to show her support, shared her story to the burgeoning crowd with a mixture of frustration and determination.

Etched into history, Juneteenth traces its origins back to June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas when, a full two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army read General Order No. 3 that declared all slaves free. A new day full of promise and potential dawned as news of freedom finally reached enslaved Black people in the southernmost parts of the United States. Juneteenth’s significance extends far beyond this single moment in history, however. The tradition of Juneteenth weaves a tapestry of struggle, resilience, and the unyielding pursuit of freedom. Rooted in the dark legacy of slavery and the grueling fight for emancipation, Juneteenth stands as a symbol of hope — and a reminder of the long, arduous journey toward racial justice and full equality in America.

(Legal Defense Fund)

For weeks following the horrific murder of George Floyd in May 2020, protesters took to the streets, their hands clasped onto signs as their feet marched along the pavement. Brimming with passion and energy, the sounds of their despair and exhaustion at grave injustices reverberated through the streets. At the same time, though, lively chants, vibrant live music, speakers blasting protest anthems, rhythmic drumming, and joyous song saliently filled the air, harmonizing against the clash of tear gas and violence directed at them as they rallied for justice. Within these sounds, despite and amid the pain, were expressions rooted in Black joy.

(Legal Defense Fund)

On a typical day at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, hundreds of children might have pushed miniature carts brimming with plastic replicas of apples, cereal boxes, and bread as they explored the aisles of a kid-sized grocery store. Once tactile and crowded, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, interactive spaces for families must re-imagine what “hands-on” will look like now.

(Vox)

From grocery store clerks to mental health counselors to mail carriers, Black essential workers describe living during the pandemic.

(Elemental)

Legally, Katie Darling was already free on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, under federal instruction to occupy the Confederate state. Backed by almost two thousand Union soldiers, Granger stood on a balcony in the center of town reading General Orders, No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free…”

(Jezebel)

It was 1882 when a 20-years-old Ida B. Wells moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Originally born and raised in Holly Springs, a small town in Mississippi, her aunt invited Wells and her two younger sisters to move forty miles to the city. In becoming one of the most groundbreaking investigative journalists in history, Memphis would shape Wells’ journey. At the beginning of her young adult life, she would be attracted by its bustling streets and bright lights, finding work as a teacher in nearby Woodstock. She would become involved in various social groups throughout the city. And she would get her start as a journalist while reckoning with deep racial disparities within its limits, nationwide.

(MoCADA)

As the smoke rose from 6221 Osage Avenue, Philadelphia residents watched through their windows or television screens in a state of stunned disbelief. Their city had just bombed its own people.

(Vox)

In spite of today’s obstacles, we can carry Walker’s history with us—remembering, in the face of adversity, what it means to love ourselves. As we face everyday challenges, we remember that defining our own beauty, self-worth and our own journeys, is still relevant today. We remember what “self-made” really means: building one’s self through their own efforts.

(The Root)

The word ‘slave’ came into usage in the late 1300s, almost three centuries before ‘enslave’ did. Yet in 1804, generations after the first enslaved Africans came to Haiti, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed words that would forever change the island. Marking the end of the 13-year-long Haitian Revolution, Dessalines, the first ruler over the sovereign country and lieutenant to Toussaint L’Ouverture, read the Haitian Declaration of Independence: “…We must, with one last act of national authority, forever assure the empire of liberty in the country of our birth… let these sacred words unite us and be the signal of battle and of our reunion…”

(MoCADA)