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Stanford marks Juneteenth with a series of events and exhibitions

Activities taking place June 15-24 include exhibitions, a Sunday worship service, collaborative art projects, and cooking sessions.

The Stanford community has organized a series of events and activities to commemorate Juneteenth. Plans include a quilt exhibition and presentation, a Black history exhibition, a special worship service, a collaborative art project, cooking sessions, and a resource guide provided by Stanford Libraries.

Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates the date – June 19, 1865 – when enslaved Black people in Texas finally learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Juneteenth is the newest federal holiday, signed into law on June 17, 2021, by President Joe Biden.

The schedule of Juneteenth activities at Stanford follows:

  • Quilt exhibition and presentation on June 15 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Cardinal Hall Conference Center on the Redwood City campus. Members of the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland will be on hand to share some of their quilts and discuss the historic and artistic qualities of the African American quilting tradition.
  • Black history exhibition on June 16 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Fisher Conference Center in the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center.
  • Worship service on June 19 at 11 a.m. in Memorial Church. The Rev. Dr. Sakena Young-Scaggs, senior associate dean for religious and spiritual life and pastor of Memorial Church, will lead a service featuring the Rev. Dr. Valerie Miles-Tribble, professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and author of Change Agent Church in Black Lives Matter Times: Urgency for Action.
  • Fine Arts Collaborative from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 20 at the Axe and Palm patio on the main campus and June 21 in Stanford Square on the Redwood City campus. Community members are invited to contribute to a collective art piece inspired by the Juneteenth flag; supplies will be provided.
  • Celebrating Juneteenth through food. Residential and Dining Enterprises offers a live online cooking session on June 22 at 1 p.m. and an in-person cooking conversation on June 23 at 1:30 p.m. In addition, R&DE will offer a Juneteenth lunch menu June 14-16 and June 21-23 at the Cardinal Café in Redwood City and a special dinner menu in the dining halls on June 20.
  • Stanford Libraries Juneteenth guide. Stanford Libraries developed a resource guide to help users explore the history of Juneteenth and learn more about this important event.

For more information on Stanford’s Juneteenth activities, including how to register for cooking sessions, visit the Stanford Juneteenth website.