Today is Juneteenth!

If you are new to this commemorative day:  it is the day that

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863.” (Juneteenth.com)

There’s a pretty good explanation and coverage of the attempt to make Juneteenth a national holiday here – We’re Celebrating Juneteenth Come Hell or High Water, and its champion – Opal Lee. When Opal was a young girl her family was attacked by a mob of over 500 white supremacists who eventually drove the family from its home and destroyed it.  “In 2016, at the age of 89, she decided to walk from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday.”

BlackSciFi.com has a host of information including:

A showcase Film Festival

The re-opening of the National Civil Rights Museum

The rescheduling of their convention to 2021

Blackgirlnerds offers up a reading list

TOR announces a book celebration

Another list of Black Science Fiction authors

And here are suggestions on how to celebrate – even though working for true equality is a job not yet finished.

And, in case you are still wondering why Tulsa is such a big deal, check this out.

 

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