Juneteenth on Warriner
CMU commemorates Juneteenth each year with a celebration of freedom, unity, and history. The event in 2022 marked the day with family-friendly activities, great food rooted in African American culture, live musical performances, and speeches from university and local officials. Our Juneteenth on Warriner event is a collaboration with Multicultural Academic Student Services and the City of Mt. Pleasant.
Frequently asked questions
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth (short for June 19th) marks the day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. Their arrival came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union. We celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.
Juneteenth emphasizes African American education and achievement. This is a time when people of all backgrounds join together in recognition of an important period of the nation’s history that continues to influence society today.
What we're doing on campus
Juneteenth is a nationally celebrated holiday commemorating the final and formal end of slavery in the United States.
On this day we celebrate as a community. Join us as we learn about the history of this very special holiday through the documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom, followed by a community panel discussion.
Monday, June 19, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Opperman Auditorium inside Park Library.
This event is free and open to the public.
Which choirs are performing?
Christ Central Choir
Movies to watch for Juneteenth
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is an American television film based on the novel of the same name by Ernest J. Gaines. The time is the early 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Jane, a former slave, is celebrating her 110th birthday. Two men tell her that a little girl is going to a segregated water fountain; she gets arrested because she is Black.
13th is a 2016 American documentary film by director Ava DuVernay. The film explores the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States"; it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime.
Emancipation is a 2022 American historical action thriller film set in Louisiana in the 1860s after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to end most slavery in the US. The film was directed by Antoine Fuqua and co-produced by Will Smith, who stars as a runaway slave headed for Baton Rouge.
Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom is an illuminating film of deep understanding and thoughtful perspectives about the complex history of race. This movie features a Black American who is troubled by the legacy of American slavery and the misuse of Christianity to justify it. He travels throughout Texas discovering how the Juneteenth reveals faith and a fight for freedom in an unjust society.