Join historian Melissa Williams in celebrating Juneteenth with a discussion of the holiday’s roots, significance, and the role of “Black joy” in African American life. Juneteenth commemorates the liberation of the last enslaved people in Confederate territory on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas and is also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day. For over a century, the 19^th of June had been unofficially celebrated nationwide with family gatherings, cookouts, dances, church activities, and historical programs; as of 2021 it is an official federal holiday. Come learn more about this intriguing element of America’s past and its importance today.