On June 19, 2020, at 11:00 a.m., WQPT will stream a virtual commemoration of the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth. To watch, visit wqpt.org or visit the WQPT Facebook page.
Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union soldier, Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, TX, with the news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Six leading Black museums and historical institutions from coast to coast have joined forces to launch a digital commemoration of Juneteenth, the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced, ending enslavement in Texas. This timely event features cultural performances from Africa and across America; educational content; appearances by:
- Lonnie G. Bunch, III, the first African American and first historian to serve as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
- Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, anthropologist, educator, museum director, and first female African American President of Spelman College
- The Honorable Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, first woman and the first African American to lead the National Library.