MOLINE, ILLINOIS (June 18, 2020) — WQPT will stream a virtual commemoration of the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth on June 19 at 11AM.
Six leading Black museums and historical institutions from coast to coast have joined forces to launch a digital commemoration of Juneteenth, the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced, ending enslavement in Texas.
This timely event features cultural performances from Africa and across America, educational content and appearances by:
Lonnie G Bunch III, the first African American and first historian to serve as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Dr Johnnetta Betsch Cole, anthropologist, educator, museum director and the first female African American president of Spelman College
The Honorable Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library.
Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army landed at Galveston, Texas, with the news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
To watch visit wqpt.org or visit the WQPT Facebook page at 11AM on Friday, June 19.
