Join us as the essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth’s integral importance to American history, is told by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Texas native, Annette Gordon-Reed.

Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond. All too aware of the stories of cowboys, ranchers, and oilmen that have long dominated the lore of the Lone Star State, Annette Gordon-Reed—herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas as early as the 1820s—forges a new and profoundly truthful narrative of her home state, with implications for us all. As our nation recognizes June 19 as a national holiday, On Juneteenth is both an essential account and a stark reminder that the fight for equality is exigent and ongoing.

ANNETTE GORDON-REED is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and is the author of Pulitzer Prize–winning The Hemingses of Monticello.

This event is hosted in association with Clements Center for Southwest Studies, the SMU Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Dedman College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dedman School of Law, the DeGolyer Library, Simmons School of Education and Human Development, and Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute’s Scott-Hawkins Lecture Fund.

Further Reading

Here, you’ll find more resources to feed your interest in the topics covered at this event.

Secondary Sources

Anderson, Javonte. “Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom from slavery. But it didn’t mean freedom for all.” USA Today News, 18 June 2021. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/18/juneteenth-slavery-freedom-delayed-celebration/7713722002/?gnt-cfr=1

Guzmán, Will. Civil Rights in the Texas Borderlands. University of Illinois Press, 2016.

Jasper, Simone, “What is Juneteenth? Five things to know after push for federal holiday passes Senate.” McClatchy D.C., 16 June 2021. https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article252150918.html#storylink=cpy

National Museum of African American History and Culture. “The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, 19 June 2019. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth

Price, Jillian. “A Historical Look at Jim Crow Laws in Texas.” Reporting Texas. 27 May 2021. https://reportingtexas.com/a-historical-look-at-jim-crow-laws-in-texas/

Scruggs, Afi-Odelia. “Five Myths About Juneteenth.” The Washington Post, 18 June 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/juneteenth-holiday-five-myths/2020/06/18/4c19fff8-b0e1-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

More by Dr. Gordon-Reed

Gordon-Reed, Annette. “America’s Original Sin: Slavery and the Legacy of White Supremacy.” Foreign Affairs, 2018. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-12-12/americas-original-sin

Gordon-Reed, Annette. “Black America’s Neglected Origin Stories.” The Atlantic, 4 May 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/06/estebanico-first-africans-america/618714/

Gordon-Reed, Annette. “The Color Line.” New York Review, 19 August 2019. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/08/19/du-bois-color-line-paris-exposition/

Gordon-Reed, Annette. “The Real Texas.” New York Review, 24 October 2019. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/10/24/real-texas-history/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NYR Texas Stendhal&utm_content=NYR Texas Stendhal+CID_dd16ffbdebb7fbb7d0c3df505f67d1eb&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=The Real Texas