Juneteenth is a holiday of hope. A time of joy to ease the pain, anger and sadness around continued racial injustice in the United States.
Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Joy Melody Woods, a doctoral student at the Moody College of Communication, remembers the parades and large community events on Juneteenth.
“For the longest time growing up, I was confused to why we celebrated a day when we were the last to know we were free,” she says. “Now as an adult, Juneteenth means a time to reflect on how we as a people (black people) are really able to come together and celebrate our history and heritage. Our history as African Americans started long before our enslavement, and it is a time to remember that we really are unstoppable, resilient and beautiful.”
Woods says while many celebrate with large events, she likes to relax on Juneteenth.
“I choose to celebrate by resting because knowing that this day is a celebration of being free from enslavement — a thing that made us work for the profit of others and sometimes even work us until we died — resting and doing absolutely nothing is a beautiful celebration and actually powerful. Not having to be beholden to anything for one day is something that black folks, but especially black women, rarely get to experience. So I just sit in that,” says Woods.
Woods is an advocate for black voices in health care and the co-founder of the #BlackintheIvory, a hashtag used on Twitter to share experiences of racism and being black in higher education.
“Being able to say I am from Texas, the place where these celebrations started, also gives me a sense of pride. It speaks to the fact that we cannot celebrate until we are all free, which I think still stands true today.”
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June 19, 2020 at 05:27AM
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Juneteenth: Black Americans' True Independence Day - UT News - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin
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