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From: Office of Institutional Diversity

Good afternoon,

The OSU community will commemorate Juneteenth this Monday, June 19. In recognition of the holiday, all university locations will be closed.

Juneteenth commemorates the date in 1865 when enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas learned they were free, nearly three years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Over time, the holiday has grown to celebrate liberation, community resilience, family and culture within Black and African-American communities.

In 2021, OSU recognized Juneteenth as a paid holiday and, following decades of advocacy, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday. In 2022, Juneteenth became a holiday in the state of Oregon. The recognition of Juneteenth in Oregon is particularly poignant given the state’s history of exclusionary policies targeting Black communities.

At OSU, Juneteenth is an occasion to recognize and reflect on the incredible contributions of the Black community within the university and beyond:

  • On May 25, the President’s Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs convened the second annual Summit on the State of Black Affairs at the OSU Portland Center where nearly 200 community members from across the state deliberated strategies to support and empower Black communities throughout Oregon.
  • On June 2, students from the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center on OSU’s Corvallis campus organized a Juneteenth Festival featuring performances, food, a yard show with the OSU chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s historically Black fraternities and sororities and a powerful speech by African Student Association members about the historical impacts of the slave trade on their home countries.
  • This Sunday, June 18, the Letitia Carson Legacy Project will host community members at its Juneteenth gathering starting at the Benton County Historical Society Museum in downtown Corvallis and then visiting her homesite to share portrayals of Letitia Carson’s tenacity and strength in the face of anti-Black policies in mid-1800s Oregon.

On Monday, please take time to learn more about Juneteenth, find opportunities for celebration across the state, and consider your own efforts to support Black leaders and communities within OSU and everywhere.

Sincerely, Scott A. Vignos, J.D.

Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer

Send Date: 
Friday, June 16, 2023