In June 2021, President Joseph Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth a federal holiday.Celebrated on June 19th, Juneteenth marks the symbolic end of slavery in the United States, an institution that, from its beginnings in 17th century Virginia, destroyed the bodies, families, lives, and dreams of over ten million people of African descent over the span of three centuries.

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, I received numerous requests to speak on Juneteenth corporations, non-profit organizations, federal and state agencies, public school, and community groups. Prior to that year, I had never been asked to discuss. My research is firmly planted in the 20th century, nevertheless, I have accepted many of these requests because speaking to - with - non-academic audiences is always a vitalizing, educational, and rewarding experience, because they typically speak to “real world” (versus scholarly) issues. What is the history and celebration of Juneteenth to this moment? What might it be?

For the past four years, I have had the honor of providing opening remarks for my town’s annual reading of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, which he delivered to the Ladies Anti-slavery Society in Rochester, New York, in 1852. Recognizing that many people will be occupied on the fourth, the organizers for this event, the Natick Historical Society, plan the reading of Douglass’s most famous speech for Juneteenth. As a memorializing of slavery’s end, correspondingly, Juneteenth is also a day for celebrating, and perhaps more importantly, contemplating Black freedom. And, there is perhaps no better contemplation of Black freedom in the history of American oratory and literature than Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.”

If you are looking for someone to speak on Juneteenth’s significance as a history and holiday, please reach out.