Juneteenth: Honoring Freedom and Celebrating Community
This Monday, June 19, marks the 3rd annual celebration of Juneteenth in the US since President Biden signed legislation in 2021 that made it a Federal Holiday. This holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. While this holiday has long been celebrated among the African American community, it’s only recently been recognized on a wider scale.??
As many are aware, the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, however, it was not implemented for territories still considered Confederate territory. On June 19, 1865 (two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was put into place) slaves in Galveston Bay, Texas were made aware of the news and were finally freed. We observe Juneteenth to remember America’s second day of independence.?
Amwell is proud to observe this holiday and does so by closing our U.S. office on Monday, June 19 to create time and space for our employees to celebrate Juneteenth as a company and acknowledge and celebrate the freedom of enslaved African Americans in the US. In addition, we are hosting our Third Annual Juneteenth Block Party hosted by our DEI&B Committee.??
At this year’s Juneteenth Block Party, Jillian Kotsioplous, Committee Board member, kicked off our flagship event with our DEI pillars after some rockin’ tunes from our Juneteenth Spotify playlist, including “Golden” by Jill Scott, ”Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross, and “Black Parade” by Beyoncé. As we have in past years, we spot-lit an employee’s personal narrative; this year bringing Noah Walker of Rock Hill, South Carolina to our virtual stage. He spoke bravely and candidly with interviewer, Sapna Patel,?about his childhood reckoning with the concept of race, his Blackness, and the impact politics, discrimination, segregation, and resource inequity has in his community and the communities of people of color. Many employees shared their own stories in the open mic session which followed, discussing their own experiences, reacting to Noah’s narrative, and on a lighter note – how they celebrate Juneteenth! To round out audience participation, committee member, Tarl Jacobsen, facilitated a?friendly trivia game for attendees to flex their Juneteenth history knowledge, pop culture, as well as fun callbacks to past year’s block parties. With the final minutes, DEI&B Chair, Tess Dutton, closed out with Juneteenth celebrations around the country, and shared a fun ’school dance’ analogy to the addition of ’B’?to the Committee name, which represents Belonging at Amwell.?
In addition to our programming, we want to encourage all employees to learn more about this important day and find ways to celebrate! Below are ways you can celebrate individually, within your community, as well as some additional resources:?
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Some of the 2023 DEI&B Committee’s favorite small Black-owned businesses:?
Please add any additional resources or ways you celebrate Juneteenth in the comments below. Happy Juneteenth!?