Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, TX in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people in Texas were free. It is important to note that the troops did not arrive until two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.
This program tells the story of one family’s journey to freedom and the bigger connection to American history in traveling to their journey of freedom. The special guest presenters for the Juneteenth Celebration Webinar are Bettye Kearse, the award-winning author of The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family; Eduardo Montes-Bradley, the award-winning documentarian who helped capture the visual component of Bettye’s work in the documentary film, The Other Madisons, and Christian Cotz, the CEO of First Amendment Museum in Augusta, ME who spent nearly two decades working at President James Madison’s Montpelier home. The panelists join a moderated discussion by Hon. Adrienne Nelson, Chair of the ABA Diversity and Inclusion Center and Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, on how the themes of the film, especially from a legal lens, connect to broader civil rights issues and the continued importance and relevance of Juneteenth.