19 Ideas to Celebrate and Honour Juneteenth (plus helpful resources to learn more)

In this article you’ll find 12 ways to personally celebrate Juneteenth and 7 ideas to recognize Juneteenth in your workplace, wrapping up with 5 Articles to read or share to learn more about Juneteenth itself. You may also enjoy: What is Juneteenth, Why it Matters & What You Can Do! which I wrote to help me understand these issues more deeply.

Juneteenth (June nineteenth) marks the date when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas (June 19, 1865) to finally enforce the 1863(!) declaration from President Abraham Lincoln that all slaves in the United States are now considered free.

But Juneteenth doesn’t just mark the end of slavery, it also highlights ongoing struggles for freedom and equality. So I hope you enjoy the 19 short and sweet ideas and suggestions below to help you honour Juneteenth.

Note: DEIJ stands for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice.

19 Ways to Celebrate & Honour Juneteenth!

Here are 12 ways to personally recognize Juneteenth

Don’t keep it to yourself! Get your partner, children or larger family involved—and why not make it fun?

1. Find an event in your neighbourhood and participate.
2. Host your own backyard party in honour of Juneteenth (and encourage attendees to discuss and reflect on DEIJ issues).
3. Sign a petition that addresses DEIJ Issues.
4. Make a donation. For example, support Boston University’s Antiracist Research here.
5. Purposely support Black-owned businesses.
6. Visit an exhibit or museum dedicated to Black culture.
7. Watch a Black TV show—especially one that shows Black culture in a positive and uplifting way. I remember A Different World from the late 1980s (which has an interesting history here (link to Wikipedia)). Or try Lovecraft Country, Black-ish, Atlanta, Run the World and Insecure. Get more great ideas of new shows to watch from Oprah Daily here.
8. Watch a movie or documentary—whether it’s historical or current day.
   • Try the PBS’s docuseries Juneteenth Jamboree. This PBS link shares 25 minutes of highlights from this series.
   • Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (link is to IMDb) is a documentary about the Harlem Music Festival in 1969.
   • Watch a movie about a famous person of colour. Like I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Whitney Houston), King Richard (father of Venus and Serena Williams), Harriet (Harriet Tubman), Respect (Aretha Franklin), Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening and many, many more.
9. Consciously listen to Black artists (music or comedy).
10. Read books written by Black authors and poets. Some examples of poets include Langston Hughes, Amanda Gorman, June Jordan, Audre Lord and James Baldwin. For authors try Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and if you like fantasy writing try Octavia Butler or NK Jemisin.
11. Read a biography or memoir about people of colour. For example you can get all 5 of Maya Angelou’s memoirs in one volume (this is the one I have!) The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou. Or Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston (a fascinating story of a controversial Black woman before her time). Or Dreams of Africa in Alabama (link is to Abe Books) by Sylviane A. Diouf, about the last slave ship (The Clotilda) to land in the USA in 1860, and how they created Africa town to preserve African memories, culture and community.
12. And see last year’s article for more book ideas to educate yourself on DEIJ issues.

And here are 7 ideas to recognize Juneteenth in your workplace

1. Simply start a discussion. Ask your employees or colleagues to share their thoughts on Juneteenth. What do they know? What do they think could/should be different?
2. If you have employees, consider giving them a long lunchbreak in honour of Juneteenth.
3. Are there any events local to you? If you own your business, participate or sponsor an event. If not, ask your organization to do so.
4. Bring in some baking and when you share it with colleagues, let them know you are honouring and celebrating Juneteenth.
5. Invite a guest speaker in to talk about Juneteenth or DEIJ Issues for a “brown bag lunch” (where people bring their lunch in a brown bag and eat during the lunchtime event).
6. Make a corporate donation to Black run businesses or organizations that are making a difference in breaking down structural racism.
7. Review your organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement and initiatives.
   • If there aren’t any, consider why this may be, and what you could do about it.

Unless stated otherwise, book links go to Bookshop.org (an Amazon alternative that supports small bookstores) and I am an affiliate for them. As always I encourage you to support your local (Black) bookseller if you can—even if it means paying a bit more or waiting longer to receive your book).

Wrap-up

I hope this has given you some ideas.

And if you have comments, suggestions, ideas or more great resources, please add yours in the comments below.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• What is Juneteenth, Why it Matters & What You Can Do!
• 44 Powerful and Inspiring Martin Luther King Quotes (plus beautiful quote graphics)
• Resilience: “Still I Rise” Inspirational Maya Angelou Poem for You! (with beautiful .PDF printable)
• What Kind of World Do You Want to Live in?

Change the world. Start with you!