Join Dr. Matthew Delmont for a program that will explore the origins and importance of Juneteenth – a celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. – and of the generations of Black Americans who have fought for freedom and equality. Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas to commemorate the date when U.S. Army troops and news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the state on June 19, 1865. Today, nearly every state observes this date, including Massachusetts, which will celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday for the first time this year. Juneteenth is a time for joy, for building community and for talking honestly about our nation’s history.

Dr. Matthew Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. An expert on African-American History and the history of Civil Rights, he is the author four books, including most recently, Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African American Newspapers. His next book, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, will be published by Viking Books in 2022. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholar Award to support this research. He regularly shares his research with media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic and Washington Post. This program is cosponsored by the Newton Human Rights Commission.

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