Juneteenth

"Ellison (1914-1994) had been to several Juneteenth celebrations, or "rambles," when he was growing up in the Midwest, wrote Mr. Callahan in the introduction to the book. "The delay, of course, is symbolic acknowledgment that liberation is the never-ending task of self, group and nation, and that, to endure, liberation must be self-achieved and self-achieving," he wrote. "In his novel ... Ellison speaks of false as well as true liberation and of the courage required to tell the difference.""

By Loretta Johnson, in Studies in American Fiction Vol. 32, Iss 1. Ralph Ellison's second novel, Juneteenth, echoes one of the crucial themes of his first--how stories get told, whose stories should be told and what history is to be believed. A novel about liberation, Juneteenth explores much more than a day in history. It argues for the necessity to keep the past in the present, through celebration, art and remembrance.

In an interview aired on NPR's Morning Edition with Olivia Hampton, poet Amanda Gordon reflects on Juneteenth celebrations and what it means for the holiday to be federalized. She reads her poem "Fury and Faith" from her poetry collection Call Us What We Carry - June 17, 2022

Published in Black Renaissance in summer 2010, this poem calls on the memory of Juneteenth to find us "stuck somewhere between forgiveness and forgetness somewhere between scars and open wounds"

NPR affiliate KNAU celebrates Juneteenth 2019 with Maya Angelou, read by Amber Jones as she learns about Juneteenth and her family's connections to the celebrations.

"dedicated to the preservation of the unique aesthetic expression of freedom through jazz, and the spiritual essence of a people whose lives continue to be the creative catalyst of the roots of all America's music."