Juneteenth – also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day – is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
One of the action items identified by CEB students in DEI meetings last summer was the formal celebration and honoring of Juneteenth across the cluster each year moving forward. Therefore, the CEB DEI committee has planned an inaugural half-day event to take place in Washington Park, just west of the UChicago campus in Hyde Park, on Saturday, June 19th.
Want to learn more about Juneteenth?
- View Professor Adam Green's presentation on the "History of Juneteenth."
- UChicago News: What Juneteenth tells us about the history of emancipation
Our Darwin-cluster Juneteenth schedule, Saturday, 6/19, beginning 11:00am:
| 11:00am – 11:30am | Swag bag handout (at 5621 S. University) and walk to Washington Park |  |
| 11:30am – 11:45am | Meet in Washington Park, SW "corner" of Payne Drive & 57th Street (see blue dot on map) | |
| 11:45am – 1:30pm | Socially-distanced Nature Walk, and reflection (small groups) | |
| 1:30pm – 3:30pm | Attend scheduled Juneteenth programming at the DuSable Museum of African American History (740 E. 56th Place; see blue star on map) | |
| 3:30pm – 4:00pm | Head home or to an alternate wifi connection | |
| 4:00pm – 5:00pm | Remotely attend Graduate Council’s Juneteenth Keynote Address with Angela Davis * Please register on Grad Council's webpage: https://gc.uchicago.edu/juneteenth |
We hope that you can join us at this year’s event! Download the Darwin Juneteenth Commemoration brochure (with map, holiday summary, and nature-walk species to-look-out-for) here.
The Committee on Evolutionary Biology advocates for, and continues to work towards, these goals:
- We need to work more effectively to not only recruit individuals from underrepresented groups, but also to improve support systems to ensure their success and sense of belonging within our program, and within the wider STEM community.
- We need to examine ourselves and our mentoring practices to ensure that all students receive and recognize the diverse kinds of support and training they require, for personal and professional development both within and beyond the limits of our Ph.D. program.
- We need to educate ourselves for the challenges of racial, cultural, and ethnic prejudice that lie ahead.