Hudson Library to celebrate Juneteenth, city's anti-slavery history
The Hudson Library and Historical Society is celebrating Juneteenth this month with a number of events to educate and reflect on the importance of the holiday.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The holiday, which is also often a day for celebrating African American culture, is observed June 19.
Pulitzer-prize winning historian and author Annette Gordon-Reed will join the library June 13 for a live virtual discussion on the holiday and her book "On Juneteenth." She said that everyone should celebrate the holiday regardless of race.
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"They can and should celebrate. It was an advance in human rights achieved by the efforts of the United States Army and those enslaved who emancipated themselves by leaving the plantations and joining the Army," she said.
Her book, which is a New York Times bestseller, provides a historian's view of the country's path to honoring Juneteenth, recounting its origins and the enormous hardships African Americans have endured since. The book also includes personal anecdotes and is a partial memoir from Gordon-Reed.
Gordon-Reed was invited to the White House on June 19, 2021, when President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. She said it was an amazing experience.
The library was awarded a grant by the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, to support this community event.
As part of the grant-awarded project, the Hudson Library will host the free lecture and provide supplementary educational materials and resources, as well as highlight Hudson’s local history related to the topic. Registration for the event can be found on the Library's website: www.hudsonlibrary.org.
"Juneteenth is a family and community celebration in which all can participate," Gordon-Reed said.
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Hudson librarians have curated a wide variety of resources for all ages, both online and in the library, about Juneteenth and related topics, said Polly Reynolds, head of adult services and archives.
Hudson’s history speaks to many of the themes of this event. Hudson, once called the “citadel of abolitionism,” was an active stop on the Underground Railroad and was the childhood home of abolitionist John Brown, Reynolds said.
"The Hudson Library will lead a walking tour of the homes and sites that played a significant role in the anti-slavery movement of pre-Civil War Hudson," she said. "Self-guided tours are also available via the library’s virtual Underground Railroad walking tour, which will also be available as a standalone app in the near future."
Multiple copies of Gordon-Reed's book On Juneteenth are available for patrons to borrow from the library.
"After the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, people have been thinking about the history that led up to that event, thinking of the legacies of slavery," she said. "Juneteenth the following month became, I think, for many a focus of attention. We needed a day to think about the history of the Black struggle in America."
Reporter Molly Walsh can be reached at mwalsh@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hudson Library to celebrate Juneteenth, African-American culture
