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Juneteenth

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By: Contributing Writer
June 17, 2022

Dear °Δ²ΚΏͺ½± Community,

On Monday, °Δ²ΚΏͺ½± will be closed in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. On Jan. 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, outlawing the enslavement of human beings descended from Africa. It took more than two years for news to reach the last of those enslaved in Texas on June 19, 1865. As we approach this holiday, I ask that you take the time to reflect on our nation’s history β€” and its promise. 

I hope that you will allow me to share some of my own thoughts ahead of Juneteenth. As I reflect on this holiday, I am struck by how short a period of time has passed since the United States ended its practice of racialized intergenerational bondage. A mere six generations has passed since the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery. The generations following saw the immediate codification of racial segregation or β€œJim Crow” laws. It would take four more generations for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to legally prohibit racial segregation and discrimination in employment, housing, loans, transportation, and dining. We are now only two generations removed from the civil rights movement. 

Six generations removed from abolishing slavery. Two generations removed from outlawing segregation and discrimination. This history, our history, is not so distant. 

We have made progress. Yet, we have much further to go. Our history can and should inform the promise of what our nation β€” and our community β€” can become. I believe that we are a community capable of reckoning with our past in order to fulfill the promise of a more just society. After all, °Δ²ΚΏͺ½±β€™s mission is to β€œdevelop wise, thoughtful, critical thinkers and perceptive leaders by challenging [students] to fulfill their potential through residence in a community that values intellectual rigor and respects the complexity of human understanding.”

In order for our students to develop into their full potential, we as staff and faculty members must also engage in our own critical thinking about our community within the complexities of our nation’s history and the promise of what it can become. As you consider how you might reflect or celebrate the Juneteenth holiday, (or restore yourself!) I have highlighted a few :


  • June 17, 6–7 p.m., Utica

  • June 18, 9:15 am.–1:15 p.m., NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center

  • June 18, Noon, Newark Public Library

  • June 18, 10 a.m.–Noon, Cafe Sankofa Cooperative, Syracuse

I look forward to our continued work together.

All the best,

Renee Madison
Vice President for Equity and Inclusion