2023 Juneteenth Schools Initiative

Forum Philly’s 2023 Juneteenth School Initiative mission is to partner with school districts to build out student-led, faculty-supervised, and school-centered programming in support and affirmation of Juneteenth the oldest holiday commemorating the formal end of American slavery, Juneteenth. Together we facilitate thefunding, planning, and coordination of segmented student-led, school-based, and contextualized clustered Juneteenth Celebrations.  Forum Philly is committed to partnering with the Philadelphia, William Penn, Chester/Upland, and Southeast Delco school districts in furtherance of Juneteenth education.

Because Juneteenth occurrence on the calendar [June 19th] occurs after K-12 academic calendars, Juneteenth observance and lessons beneficial to students are not ideally incorporated into curricula and enrichment programming during the school year. 

The objective is to coordinate and facilitate student-led, teacher-supervised, and school-based peer-ideated and instructed historically accurate Juneteenth-themed school assemblies and educational programs during the last week of school. The pedagogical/learning outcomes include the appropriation and contextualization of documented historical facts, increased motivation for academic excellence, and perseverance through difficulty and challenges. 

Students punctually seize the opportunity to chart a path toward success, independence, and responsibility.

Juneteenth is short for June the 19th, the day in 1865 when U.S. Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read General Order Number 3, which informed about 250,000 enslaved people in Texas that they were free. The handwritten order said, in part: “All slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor.”

President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the Union, effective Jan. 1, 1863, but Union troops did not reach the westernmost Confederate state to enforce the order for two and a half years. In January 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the entire country.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. All 50 states and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth as a holiday or observance. At least 21 states and the District of Columbia have designated Juneteenth as a permanent paid and/or legal holiday through legislation or executive action. Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day.