Resources for Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a Federal holiday that was signed into law in 2021 that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War, and has been celebrated by African Americans since the late 1800s. It is celebrated each June 19th because it was on June 19th 1865 that Gordon Granger, a Union general, arrived in the city of Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. The Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued on Jan. 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, freed the slaves, which is why the holiday is also called “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day.”
The following is a list of music-focused online resources that will help you celebrate Juneteenth with your music students. I hope you find them useful!
Songs To Believe In: A Juneteenth Playlist from NPR
This resource, suitable for middle and high school students, provides a list of 9 musical compositions by African American composers that focus on the promise of freedom. Music that brings hope and faith and even joy, urging listeners to stand and fight for what is right, reminding us that what we are celebrating on this holiday is our freedom to believe, even in the hardest of times.
Emancipation Day Celebration band, June 19, 1900, Texas
Teaching Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom - NEA
Created by the NEA to help educators and students understand the history behind Juneteenth, this resource is not necessarily a music resource BUT it provides links, videos and lesson plans about Juneteenth. I highly recommend checking this resource out when building music lesson plans.
Smithsonian Juneteenth Website
Featuring the incredible National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington DC, this amazing website has 9 different resources on all aspects of the Juneteenth holiday, including one section that focuses on the Sounds of Freedom. Featured in that section is this rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing - considered the Negro National Anthem.
NYC Public Schools Juneteenth Resources
The NYC Public Schools has created a wonderful website for their teachers and students that provides numerous links to resources that focus on Juneteenth, including this PBS documentary that explains the beginnings of Juneteenth.
The NYC DOE site also has a link to a curated Google Doc that lists TONS of online resources for educators and students.
This website, created by the United Federation of Teachers, provides a list of 13 online resources for teaching and learning about Juneteenth, including this great Juneteenth video from BrainPop - an immensely popular online resource for schools.
With such a rich culture and musical heritage, it should be relatively simple to integrate music composed by African Americans about their lived experience here in the United States into your music lessons. Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, culture and history. I sincerely hope you find these resources useful, and that they will help you teach your students about this newest Federal holiday.