Juneteenth 2022 Recap

Juneteenth Calendar Recap of Events

The university’s second-annual Juneteenth Celebration took place from June 11-18, 2022, starting off with the inaugural Nova Star Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant on June 11 at BBC and culminated with the Freedom Day Celebration on June 18 at the Dotson Family Pavilion at MMC.

Available on Demand
Reconstructing Family: Facing Our Past, Transforming Our Present
Nova Star Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant
June
Reading Group on Annette Gordon-Reed’s “On Juneteenth”– June 1, June 8, June 15 (Virtual) Wednesdays 1:00-2:30pm.
A 3-part virtual discussion group of historian Annette Gordon-Reed’s “On Juneteenth”. Groups met virtually on Wednesday, June 1, 8, and 15 from 1-2:30pm. Participants received complimentary copies of the book and professional development hours.
Saturday, June 11th
Nova Star Networking Mixer (Wine Spectator Room, Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, BBC) 4:00-6:00pm.
Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom and achievement while encouraging continuous self-development. As part of the week-long celebration, we were excited to give students approaching their junior and senior year, as well as graduate students, the opportunity to apply for the Nova Star Networking Mixer, to engage and network with employers and organizations while learning about their different work environments, culture, and interview process. The dress code was business casual. Refreshments were served. Selected students got a free entrance to the inaugural Nova Star Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant immediately following the mixer.
Nova Star Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant (Wolfe University Center Auditorium, BBC) 6:30-9:30pm.
Nova Star Juneteenth Scholarship Pageant
As part of the Juneteenth celebration, FIU will have the Inaugural Nova Star Scholarship pageant on June 11, 2022. The inclusive pageant was open to all genders, races and abilities and showcased students who exemplify leadership, school spirit, and a commitment to their FIU community. Contestants competed in categories such as talent, Q&A session, and a short speech on a social justice issue they are passionate about. Doors opened at 5:45 pm. Music, food trucks, and vendors were available before the show started at 6:30 pm. Thank you for helping support our scholarship contestants and helping to fund scholarships for underrepresented minority students.
Monday, June 13th
Black History Mobile Museum 101
(WUC Panther Square, BBC) 10:00am-4:00pm
The Black History 101 Mobile Museum is an award-winning collection of over 10,000 original artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. This day-long exhibit featured a lecture from 2:00-3:00pm by Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, the founder of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
Journal Through It: Journaling Session
(Green Library 220, MMC) 2:00-3:00pm
The goal of this journaling session was to plant the seed of resilience and develop tools to use when we experience shame, impostor syndrome, or despondency. We can increase our personal resilience through the power of community and accessing resources to become empowered. This session helped guests to process the collective trauma of societal constructs including (but not limited to) racism, ableism, xenophobia, gender inequality and other societal constructs that stifle self-expression. Facilitator: Maika Eugene
Journal Through It: Journaling Session
(Virtual) 4:00-5:00pm.
The goal of this journaling session was to plant the seed of resilience and develop tools we can use when we experience shame, impostor syndrome, or despondency. We can increase our personal resilience through the power of community and accessing resources to become empowered. This session helped guests to process the collective trauma of societal constructs including (but not limited to) racism, ableism, xenophobia, gender inequality and other societal constructs that stifle self-expression. Facilitator: Maika Eugene
Barbershop Talks
(Golden Touch Barbershop, MMC) 5:00-8:00pm.
In collaboration with the Student Government Association and the Black Student Union, many joined a student-led conversation, focused on being “Black in Higher Education”.
Tuesday, June 14th
Black History Mobile Museum 101
(SASC 100, MMC) 10:00am-4:00pm
The Black History 101 Mobile Museum is an award-winning collection of over 10,000 original artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. This day-long exhibit featured a lecture from 2:00-3:00 p.m. by Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, the founder of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
BSU Art Crawl
(Panther Plaza, BBC) 6:00-8:00pm
The BSU for the Art Crawl at BBC gave students the chance to customize their own tote bag, connect with local Black artists, and move their body with Afrobeats yoga and more!
Wednesday, June 15th
Financial Literacy Workshop
(Virtual) 3:00-4:00pm.
Attendees at all levels of financial literacy were engaged in a discussion centering wealth building, financial planning, and the historical disenfranchisement of marginalized communities. Many learned and shared strategies to support saving, credit building/management, and personal finances with financial experts Njideka Obijiaku and Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez, moderated by Ken Frazier from JP Morgan Chase.
Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez: By day, Delva-Gonzalez is a government auditor with over 10 years of experience. A decorated Marine Corps veteran, by night, he moonlights as The Neighborhood Finance Guy (TNFG Blog) and co-host on The Financial Griot podcast. Over the last 10 years, along with his wife, they have been paying debt and normalizing happiness. The end goal is to Make Money, Make Sense in our lifetime.
Njideka Obijiaku is a Money & Business Coach. Although she has a science background and even a Masters degree, she pivoted with a purpose first as a Community Organizer and next to the financial industry where’s she’s been for over a decade. Her coaching style can be described as where the heart of a teacher, meets the mind of a business owner meets the passion of a life coach. It is her belief that with the right strategy any ambitious professional can become wealthy and any aspiring entrepreneur can build 6+ figure businesses.
Capoeira Session
(Graham Center Panther Pit, MMC) 4:00-6:00pm
Participants engaged in one of the few martial arts to not originate from China, with its background coming from African ancestry. In this session partakers learned why Capoeira practitioners (called Capoeiristas) identify this martial art as a game and not a fight and use the term play rather than competing. Participants learned how to work with others collaboratively, while simultaneously developing their own personal physical, mental, and spiritual expectations. Capoeira incorporates all three into a whirlwind of corporeal movements meant to stimulate self-awareness, group activity, and togetherness, which are some of the primary tenets Juneteenth represents.
Instructor: Professor Alemão
Teach-In: Reconstruction, Then and Now
(Virtual) 4:00-6:00pm
“Reconstruction, Then and Now” brought together three scholars of history, race, and education to the reflect on the promise and successes of Reconstruction, the ways in which the full scope of the era was cut short by the policies and practices of white supremacy, and the work of reconstruction that remains to be done now and in the future. Moderated by David Bynes (FIU) with special guests Mary Frances Berry (University of Pennsylvania), Jarvis Givens (Harvard University), and Alexandra Cornelius (Florida International University).
Thursday, June 16th
Reconstructing Family: Facing Our Past, Transforming our Present
(Virtual) 1:30-2:30pm.
A conversation with documentary filmmakers and the family of Maj. Richard Bibb (1752-1839), a former slave owner in Russellville, Kentucky. Johnathan Knight, documentary filmmaker, Traci O’Neal Ellis, author of “The Exceptional Negro: Racism, White Privilege and the Lie of Respectability Politics and Dr. Le Datta Grimes, Oral Historian, Clemson University discussed the journey to uncover their history and reconnect with descendants of Maj. Richard Bibb, a slave owner in Kentucky.
Genealogy Resources for African American Research: Using Historical Records, Analysis and Research Tools
(Virtual) 3:00-4:30pm.
In this session, Denyce Porter Peyton discussed research strategies in African American genealogy, key historical records sets created by the Federal government, and case studies using general methods and tools for effective research. Porter Peyton’s family heritage is diverse in origin. Her paternal ancestors were enslaved in western Kentucky, by way of Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia. Her maternal ancestors originated in Japan while her direct ancestral lineage migrated to Hawaii. She became involved in genealogy studies and research close to thirty years ago. She attended the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research in Athens, Georgia, and the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute in Fort Wayne, Indiana, among others.
Black Health Panel
(Hybrid, Graham Center, Room 355, MMC) 6:00-7:30pm
This panel discussed mental and physical health factors relevant to promote wellness among people of the African diaspora.
Friday, June 17th
BBC Reunion
(Hospitality Management Patio, BBC) 12:00-2:00pm.
As part of the University’s weeklong Juneteenth celebration, the BBC Juneteenth Reunion reunited faculty, staff, and students who have or were currently teaching, working, and/or studying on our beautiful BBC campus. The celebration included lunch at the Hospitality Patio.
Gospel Presentation
(Graham Center, MMC) 12:00-1:00pm.
The College of Medicine, Minister Corey Edwards, Minister of Music at the Antioch Baptist Church, and Dr. Holder hosted a performance by the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Miami Gardens. Faculty, staff, and students, were invited all together as a family to honor Juneteenth.
Saturday, June 18th
Freedom Day Celebration
(Dotson Family Pavilion, MMC) 11:00am-4:00pm.
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Today, it commemorates African American freedom and achievement while it also encourages continuous self-development. FIU’s second annual Juneteenth Celebration took place from June 11-18, culminating in FIU’s newest tradition, our Freedom Day Celebration on June 18, from 11am to 4pm. The entire University community was invited to our second annual Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration. Lawn chairs and mats were welcomed as we gathered at the Earlene and Albert Dotson Pavilion Lawn (MARC building at MMC). Umbrellas were available on a first-come, first-served basis. This free event was open to the entire community and featured musical performances, local artisan vendors, activities, food trucks, raffles, and fun for the whole family. The first 200 faculty/staff and 150 students to register received a food voucher to use at any of the event’s food trucks. The Frost Museum was also having a Summer Exhibitions Celebration from 12-6pm that included a guided tour of the exhibit “Disrupting Anti-Blackness: Artists Voicing Truths” at 2pm. There was a bar service sponsored by Bacardi and Martini & Rossi in the Frost Museum Patio for adults 21 & over only, ID was required. Free shuttle buses between MMC and BBC ran from 10am to 5pm.
Browse event schedule and map
Louise Bennett-Coverley Memorial Lecture: Juneteenth and Jamaica
(Virtual) 2:00-4:00pm.
Juneteenth and Jamaica with Professor Verene Shepherd (Virtual) Partnership with Louise Bennett-Coverley Heritage Council – Annual Memorial Lecture.
Verene A. Shepherd, graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Cambridge, is Professor Emerita of Social History at The UWI. She is Director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the UWI, a published author of several books, a radio host and scholar activist, especially in the areas of women’s rights, human rights, and reparatory justice. She is the immediate past Director of the Institute for Gender & Development Studies at the UWI.
Sunday, June 19th
Juneteenth in Muslim Miami
(Masjid al-Ansar, 5245 NW Avenue, Miami) 11:00 am
This Juneteenth celebrated the contributions of Black Muslims to the culture, history, and arts of Miami and South Florida. The community was established in 1966 and the site was redesignated from a church to Muhammad’s Temple #29. With the death of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the temple became Masjid al-Ansar, the oldest extant mosque in Florida. This historical preservation project has worked to preserve the stories of the community’s pioneers through oral interviews, archival research, material, and document preservation, as well as an art celebration by the community’s young artists.
Wednesday, June 22nd
Juneteenth Virtual Celebration
(Virtual) 4:00-5:30pm.
The Office of Social Justice and Inclusion and the Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment unite with people across the United States celebrating Juneteenth and reflecting on the country’s collective memory. During this time, we acknowledged and celebrated the advances of the modern labor movement. We hosted Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor, and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA., for a virtual talk and moderated Q & A on Juneteenth and the Labor Movement as he highlights the latest activity of modern labor organizing in the U.S.