One hundred and fifty five years ago today, on June 19, 1865, the abolition of slavery was announced in Texas...
about 2-1/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Read more about Juneteenth Day, courtesy of History.com:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abolition-of-slavery-announced-in-texas-juneteenth

Smithsonian magazine describes Juneteenth as "Our Other Independence Day" in this article:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/juneteenth-our-other-independence-day-16340952/

Mental Floss: "12 Things you might not know about Juneteenth"
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501680/12-things-you-might-not-know-about-juneteenth

A few threads/posts which are somewhat related, on various themes of independence, equality, achievement, society, and more.

1) Independence Day - 4th of July (2018)

2) crowd-sourced BIPOC Movie list thread* (2014)

3) crowd-sourced BIPOC Book list thread* (2014)

4) role models for overcoming difficult circumstances to achieve success, frequently cited examples include Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Ben Carson, Chris Gardner ("Pursuit of Happyness"), Carol Swain, Candace Owens, Phiona Mutesi and students such as Destyni Tyree, Liyjon Desilva, Samantha Garvey. (2016)

5) Candace Owens, Michelle Obama, Phiona Mutesi, Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson (2016)

6) Katherine Johnson, NASA, "Hidden Figures" movie (2017)

7) Rashad Jennings (2019)

8) Stephen Stafford (2019)

9) Manning Johnson (2020)

*BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

On this day, Juneteenth 2020, Larry Elder released his documentary featuring Chad Johnson

happy 4th, great links!! love Katherine Johnson, the movie is great, based on a book which is also well worth reading!

another self-proclaimed 'blerd' and comedian, W.Kamau Bell, may be of interest for older kids or adults exploring issues of race in the u.s. - https://www.cnn.com/shows/united-shades-of-america

Also notable:

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/03/8848...scendants-read-his-fourth-of-july-speech


The original speech in its entirety:
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/

DC1 has proposed that this should become part of our ID traditions.

Thank you, aeh, for sharing the links to Frederick Douglass' now famous speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" delivered July 5, 1852.

To provide a bit of context, placed in chronological order, on a timeline, this speech was delivered
... after Fredrick Douglass became free, was a published author, traveled abroad, and was a known abolitionist,
... prior to the Civil War, abolition, and suffrage:
... - Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862),
... - Juneteenth Day (June 19, 1865),
... - Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (December 6, 1865),
... - Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (February 3, 1870).

Fredrick Douglass lived until 1895, and saw these changes implemented.

The life and works of Frederick Douglass provide much food for thought, including, "I would unite with anybody to do right; and with nobody to do wrong."