Juneteenth: Juneteenth: Video, online resources and more!

"June 19, 2021 marks the 156th anniversary of the last African American slaves being freed in Texas. This year, President Biden signed into law Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, S. 475, creating a federal holiday to commemorate Juneteenth. This is the first federal holiday approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983."

"Celebrate Juneteenth by taking action to progress policies to give Black Americans equal opportunity throughout the nation."

History of Juneteenth celebrations.

"On June 19, 1866, formerly enslaved Blacks in Texas celebrated a year of emancipation with the “Juneteenth” holiday."

Includes a link to a short film, "20 & Odd" : "Reflect on 400 years of African American experience through the lens of our nation's iconic places in this short film."

Historical background on Juneteenth.

History, reading list and more.

Includes link to the President's remarks on the occasion.

"Written and presented by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., director of W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, this six-hour series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed -- forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds..."

"Trace the history of the Black Church in America. From enslavement to today, the series explores key events shaping an institution at the heart of African American communities on the..."

"A 7-Part Compelling Journey Through America's Greatest Saga!

In 1860, the nation founded upon an idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness had as many as four hundred thousand slave-owners and almost four million slaves."

"Up From Slavery is a powerful, compelling and haunting 7-part documentary series that examines the history of slavery in America, from the arrival of the first African slaves through..."

"An introduction to the complex author of Invisible Man, including the first-ever dramatized scenes from that book."

"In 1952 an unknown African-American writer caught the nation’s attention with his very first book, which begins, "I am an invisible man." In this program, NewsHour correspondent Elizabeth Farnsworth examines Ralph Ellison’s legacy on the novel occasion of the publication of Juneteenth, left unfinished at the time of his death. Ellison’s literary executor John Callahan and Professor Charles Johnson—a winner, like Ellison, of The National Book Award—consider the man behind the fame and the impact of the posthumous novel on Ellison’s literary reputation, first established by Invisible Man. (12 minutes)"

"Farnsworth suggests that Ellison set an impossible task. Callahan and Johnson say the book because it became increasingly complex, and Ellison sought a place at the highest level of Western literary tradition."

Resources from the Wilkens Library on Black History.

Resources from the Wilkens Library on the Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.