Juneteenth

Friday, June 19, 2020—“The function of freedom is to free someone else.”
— Toni Morrison, commencement address at Barnard College

Juneteenth is the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. The origins of the commemoration date back to June 19th, 1865, when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas first heard that the Civil War had ended, and they were free. Juneteenth gets its name from a combination of June and nineteenth and is also known as Black Independence Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Emancipation Day.

The Science Academies of New York, in accordance with Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order marking Juneteenth as a holiday for state workers, will celebrate the holiday in accordance with the state moving forward. We are committed to building a better future based on peace, justice, equity, and equality for all.