Why and how we celebrate Juneteenth at Seattle Central
Hello, Beloved Central Community,
Greetings and Blessings on all of us who honor Juneteenth!
In 2019, Seattle Central provided a week-long celebration of Juneteenth for our beloved students, faculty and staff.
The week: June3-7, 2019 celebration included:
- An Intergenerational Talking Circle with Youth and Community Elders
- A Blessing and Opening of the Way (Afrocentric honoring),
- History and legacy lectures about Juneteenth by community leaders and elders
- A COSI discussion: The Legacy of Juneteenth: The Current Struggle for Black Liberation in Seattle”
- A performative art healing project called Red Lineage
- Our inaugural Celebrating Black Excellence Award, the first awardee was our beloved Dr. Kimberly McRae
- Community feast
- Music and lecture by Garifuna Percussionist and Teacher Ricardo Guity
This deeply impactful and beautiful celebration was made possible due to the leadership and guidance our President Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange. President Sheila’s vision and support allowed for us to bring the first Juneteenth celebration in over 15 years to Seattle Central and our wider Black community.
This year our Juneteenth commemoration is less public facing in this new reality of online education and engagement of our community. We are excited about the seriousness with which the nation is now giving this celebration of Black Liberation in the U.S.
Our plans for 2021 Juneteenth will be based on continuing our lifting up of Black History as U.S. History, the recognition of Black excellence in our Central community, and the continuance of 150+ year tradition of intergenerational passage of wisdom, knowledge, blessing and vision to our Black youth as they move on the frontlines of the current struggles.
Thank you for joining us in this second year of honoring Juneteenth and we look forward to deeper work and community involvement for our third Juneteenth celebration of Juneteenth 2021.
BE BOLD. Stay Safe.