Bellarmine University will host a Juneteenth celebration on "Black Freedom, Black Joy and Black Liberation" on Thursday, June 15, in Frazier Hall, featuring speakers Chaka Cummings and Chartreal Hall. They will discuss the past, present and future of the significance of Juneteenth for the Louisville and Bellarmine communities.
About the speakers:
Chaka Cummings is a Harlem native who is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion. A doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky, Cummings is executive director for the Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky. In this role, he supports and creates pathways for public schools to integrate the social, cultural and historical contributions of Black Kentuckians.
Chartrael Hall was a 2022 Louisville mayoral primary candidate and the co-founder of Get Better Every Day -- a non-profit organization focused on mentoring youths through sports. He is a minister at Quinn Chapel AME Church in Louisville's Russell neighborhood. This Bellarmine alum has an inspirational path to share and a vision on building a stronger and more inclusive community.
Juneteenth, the oldest African American holiday, commemorates the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans 156 years ago. It is our nation's second Independence Day. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but it wasn’t until federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that Texas recognized the end of slavery and some 250,000 enslaved African Americans were freed.