Interest in Juneteenth rises in Connecticut towns
New school curriculum, festivals in recognition of the holiday
Since the death of George Floyd, the awareness of the Juneteenth holiday has soared in Connecticut and elsewhere.
“All the recognition is out there,” said Don Harris, who sits on the state Board of Education. “People are out there talking about it. People are out there celebrating it.”
Data from Google Trends about search interest in the word “Juneteenth” shows the holiday was barely searched prior to 2020, even on June 19.
In 2019, between June 16 and June 22, Google Trends gave “Juneteenth” a 9 out of 100 on the interest scale in Connecticut. During the same period in 2020, the value was 72. In 2021, the value maxed out at 100, meaning “peak popularity” for the term.
Awareness of Juneteenth, which recognizes the emancipation of enslaved people on June 19, 1865, became more widespread after Floyd was killed by a Minnesota police officer in May 2020, setting off a worldwide Black Lives Matter movement. While most protests have subsided, many Connecticut municipalities are holding first and second annual Juneteenth events this year, despite the holiday existing since 1866.
“During those two years, people were reacting to George Floyd,” said Martha BrackeenHarris, who is a consultant who advises organizations like the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
“There was a call that school districts and companies needed to hire a [diversity, equity and inclusion] person and that happened as a reaction, but as more and more people saw the value of it and started to learn and do some self work and reading, it has changed from being reactive to the right thing to do and even proactive as they see our country will continue to become more diverse.”
Many history books may not have caught up with the increased recognition around the holiday, but some educational leaders in the state are filling in the gaps.
Public Act 19-12 passed the state Legislature in 2019, requiring all public high schools to offer courses in African, Black, Puerto Rican and Latino studies. In the first year of the curriculum, more than 1,000 students participated this academic year.
“It hit most school systems last September with the understanding it becomes mandatory next year,” said Harris, who is also on the board of directors at CABE. “Juneteenth is definitely a part of that curriculum.”
“Even among students who are not Black, students want to know because it’s their history too,” Brackeen-Harris said. “Many students want to know things. They don’t want things held from them.”
Brackeen-Harris has been holding webinars and conversations at school districts across the state about how to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion topics into the classroom.
“We’ve been teaching about critical thinking in math and all the subjects, so they are used to saying, ‘Hmm, I wonder what this is about and how this happened,’” she said.
While many students will be off for summer break, Juneteenth is now an official school and state holiday in Connecticut that will be recognized on Monday.
The work of creating equitable education spaces doesn’t end with increased Juneteenth recognition. Amy Dowell, state director for Democrats for Education Reform, said the organization has been working to recruit teachers from diverse backgrounds.
“One of the things that we have been focused in on right now is resource equity and how it relates to teacher shortages and which districts are able to retain teachers and recruit teachers competitively for hard-to-fill spots, like [special education] teachers, and math teachers and things like that, where certain districts are struggling to really fill those roles, from year to year, and how we can tie efforts to recruit more teachers of color into Connecticut schools,” Dowell said.
This weekend, towns across Connecticut are holding Juneteenth parades and festivals, such as East Hartford, which will hold its first Juneteenth celebration on Saturday.
The woman behind the celebration, Rosamond White, said she’s been attending Juneteenth events at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford for years. It’s only recently that the holiday has become mainstream in East Hartford.
“I’ve always known about Juneteenth,” said White, chair of the commission on culture and finance in the mayor’s office. “For me, what this does with the holiday and everything else, it says we are actually learning and exploring a lot more history and understanding each other.”
White credits the “dialogue” around the holiday and diversity in general for the increased recognition.
“All of our histories are intertwined in what makes this beautiful country,” White said. “It is important we all understand it so we understand this country, this flag, is freedom for all.”
“The students should learn American history: The good, the bad and the ugly,” White said. “That would be Juneteenth and everything else.”