OurJuneteenth

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. But Black Texans didn’t hear they were free until June 19th, 1865. That date now marks the Black holiday of Juneteenth. We claim ourselves. We celebrate freedom, resistance, and joy! Join #OurJuneteenth and #ImagineBlackFreedom.

Chinelo Okparanta: "When it comes, Black freedom will be having the space to exist in all our diverse forms, divine beings that we are. Black freedom will be taking up all the room that we desire, never worrying that we might soon be forced to gasp for air." #ImagineBlackFreedom

Brandon Callender: "Angela Bofill’s Under the Moon and Over the Sky makes black freedom robust yet precise. ‘The universe is waiting for you to live a life that’s happy and free,’ she sings. We coo, cluck, chant, letting the universe know we are on our way.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

Nadia Ellis: “Nina knew what Black freedom would feel like. She said she’d soar to the sun and look down at the sea and she’d sing. (She would SANG.) That sounds about right to me.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

Nalo Hopkinson: “When freedom come, my belly won't be full of swallowed fear for all of us all the time, all the time, all the time. We will no longer live in a parallel—but nowhere near equal!—universe in which we're constantly under siege.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

Dee Rees: “Black Freedom is the ability to take up space in Being and Becoming. It is to bring your whole self and to be only yourself without preamble, explanation, or apology.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

Nadia Ellis “That explosion of light; the swift, keen electricity of bodies, minds attuned to their brilliance, turned to their capacity. It’s the swooping thrill of it. It will be like a hundred Sundays dancing on an ordinary day. It’ll be like bounty.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

Jennifer Newsom: “Freedom means feeling the fullness of my body and intellect unbounded in space, following my own desires, and making my own way without restriction. I won’t have to explain, double-think, retreat, or shrink who I am to fit the world.” #ImagineBlackFreedom

It’s possible to have a media that can be a lever for racial justice. We can have a media that does not exploit the labor of Black people. Join us: bit.ly/3fBaml5 #Juneteenth #Media2070 #MediaReparations #Reparations #BlackLivesMatter

Why hundreds of American newsrooms have started capitalizing the "b" in "Black" wapo.st/3hHNAtJ

Last week, @harpersbazaarus announced its first Black editor-in-chief, @samiranasr, in its 153-year history. This week I wrote for them about Juneteenth. These two facts are born of the same truth. 🙏🏾Thank you @JoyannKing, @rhdagostino, @ericagonzo #Juneteenth #BLM #Blackwomen

Who's Juneteenth? #OurJuneteenth

1. This is Opal Lee, the force behind the movement to make #Juneteenth a national holiday. Also known as Freedom Day, it is the day that commemorates when slavery officially ended in the USA. At 93, Mrs. Lee keeps banging the drum for the recognition of this day.

Racism. Sexism. Transphobia....this refusal to even give readers a chance to pick up my books, has happened from the very 1st day of release of Redefining Realness. Even after making history & the NYT list, MOST bookstores don’t carry my books & it’s not b/c they’re sold out.

I’m seeing cultural orgs trip over to highlight the few Black people they’ve worked with or awarded. This is dangerous ground as you’re bringing their race into their work & celebrating YOUR proximity to Blackness rather than them as individual, equal artists. Think about it.

just letting you know it's okay if you weren't really hip to juneteenth until very recently. you're not alone, no matter what your timeline tells you.

Juneteenth in D.C.: Protest, celebration coexist as holiday gains energy in nation’s capital wapo.st/2YPJJCf

Happy Juneteenth fam! My latest for the @TheAtlantic. Find joy today! The images from the article alone are giving me life! theatlantic.com/culture/archiv… @Wellesley @PennPress @imaniperry @CharlesWMcKinn2 @KeishaBlain @DrIbram @ashleysimpo

What Is Juneteenth? African American History Blog | The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross pbs.org/wnet/african-a…