Today is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaching enslaved Black people in Texas on June 19, 1865. Since that time, Juneteenth has been a celebration of lasting freedom for African Americans, who mark the day with food, friends, and family. 

This year's observance challenges the idea of celebration, as we deal with a global pandemic and uprisings continuing to demand justice for Black lives. But Juneteenth remains incredibly important and offers everyone a moment to learn, understand, and look back: it is the only way to look ahead and continue positive change. 

The Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—which is celebrating its 95th anniversary—are here to support New Yorkers in their efforts with a day of learning and understanding. Today, we have released the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation List for Young Readers. Created initially by Rio Cortez, manager and creative coordinator of the Schomburg Shop, in response to the recent global uprisings, the list features 65 books for kids and teens that celebrate and foster understanding of the Black experience. It follows last week's release of our list for adults, which generated over 7,000 checkouts in a week. There is also a day of virtual programming planned, including readings by authors on the list such as Mahogany L. Browne, Ibi Zoboi, and Carole Boston Weatherford, as well as Juneteenth: Creating Legacy in Contested Places, an afternoon of conversation, music, and reflection.

The people before us paved the way to freedom, and the best way to honor that is to continue to share their stories and craft our own. May this Juneteenth provide a day of rest and reflection—and refreshment for body and soul.

Kevin Young
Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Celebrating Juneteenth

The Schomburg Center's Black Liberation List for Young Readers

 Following the release of the Black Liberation Reading List for adults, the Schomburg Center now presents an accompanying list for young readers, which includes 65 titles for all ages. These books celebrate the Black experience, help foster understanding and empathy, teach history, educate on current events, and spark important discussions and conversations. Many of these titles are available digitally for free via our SimplyE e-reader app. Many are also available from the Schomburg Shop, along with a dedicated array of books and materials chronicling global Black culture.

Special Juneteenth Online Storytimes & Read-Alouds

10 AM | Mahogany L. Browne reads from Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice 
12 Noon | Ibi Zoboi reads from Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
4 PM | Carole Boston Weatherford reads from Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

Commemorate this important holiday with our Juneteenth read-aloud series, featuring titles from the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation List for Young Readers. Young learners can engage with Black history and culture while tuning in to hear authors read from their own books from the list.

JUNETEENTH: Creating Legacy in Contested Places

Friday, June 19 | 2 PM
Join us online for an afternoon of music, conversation, and reflection. Chef and historian Therese Nelson, Dr. Andrea Roberts, founder of Texas Freedom Colonies Project, and chef and TV personality Carla Hall, author of Carla's Comfort Food: Favorite Dishes from Around the World, examine the artful negotiations of formerly enslaved African Americans and celebrate the persistent pursuit of freedom. Plus, Rootstock Republic premieres a new arrangement of "Strange Fruit," the classic song made famous by Billie Holiday, which called attention to the lynching of Black people in America.

For Adults: The Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List

Last week, in response to the uprisings across the globe demanding justice for Black lives, the Schomburg Center released its list of 95 essential titles for adults as it marked its 95th anniversary this year. The titles on the list represent books the Schomburg Center and the public turn to regularly as activists, students, archivists, and curators, with a particular focus on books by Black authors and those whose papers the Schomburg Center stewards.

Juneteenth: Find Even More Online

Discover even more great resources on our website. Visit Wakanda and the world of Black Panther from the comfort of home with unlimited access to the e-book of Shuri: A Black Panther Novel by Nic Stone, available to NYPL cardholders through SimplyE. Get downloadable versions of the Black Liberation lists for both adults and young readers to print out, share with family and friends, and check off titles as you read. Plus, find more ways to learn about and celebrate Juneteenth with friends and family!

LIVE from NYPL: Pride Across Generations

LIVE from NYPL: 50 Years of Marching for Pride

Monday, June 22 | 8 PM
Join the organizers of the first pride marches in New York and Washington, D.C., Ellen Broidy and Joyce Hunter, to reflect on the history of Pride. They will speak with Eric Marcus, host of the podcast Making Gay History. The discussion will utilize the Library's collection of photographs by Diana Davies, a pioneering photojournalist who captured the pivotal events of this era and changed the ways LGBTQ people perceived themselves.

LIVE from NYPL: Pride of the 80s & 90s

Tuesday, June 23 | 8 PM
As the AIDS crisis unfolded amid a period of political conservatism in the 80s and 90s, artists and activists addressed the complexity of their overlapping social identities through their work, creating new standards of intersectionality and allyship for future generations. Artists and activists, including poet Pamela Sneed and choreographer Bill T. Jones, reflect on the various stances of their respective generations, the rise of identity politics, and the day-to-day realities of creativity and activism within that environment.

LIVE from NYPL: Pride 2020 | Reframing Liberation

Wednesday, June 24 | 8 PM
While the official 2020 Pride march was canceled, people around the world are rising up to affirm that Black Lives Matter, protesting the systemic issues that drive inequality, and reframing what liberation means now. In a conversation that considers what intersectionality, allyship, and mobilization mean today, Lama Rod Owens speaks with creative queer millennials, including Ianne Fields Stewart and Fran Tirado—two of the organizers of the recent Black Trans Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn—about the legacies of their ancestors, the work of today, and their pride in their identities.  

For Kids & Teens

Starting Soon! Summer Reading's Virtual Summer Camp

Beginning June 29, the Library is expanding its Summer Reading program to include a six-week virtual summer camp, featuring weekly themes, videos, and hands-on activities for kids of all ages to spark their imagination. Sign up for our weekly NYPL Kids e-newsletter to find out about each week’s theme and activities—plus get updates on virtual programs, book recommendations, and more! 

Watch Animated Movies Online

Get access to fun and educational movies online with BrainPOP's database of informative animated videos. Learn about a wide range of topics from a variety of subjects, from math and science to social studies, English, health, and technology. Each video comes with a host of supplemental learning material, so students can dive deep on any subject and you can plan lessons around them. For grades 3–8.

Online CUNY Admissions Information Session and Q&A

Wednesday, June 24 | 5 PM
This event will give high school students and their families the opportunity to learn about the City University of New York (CUNY), which includes 18 colleges across the city. Following the presentation, there will be a Q&A with information on how CUNY schools are adapting to the realities of COVID-19.

Community Resources

Small Business: Reopen & Rebound Series

Small businesses, entrepreneurs, and solo practitioners can get the resources they need not only to reopen but also to come back stronger and better than before. Our business librarians have assembled a group of world-class experts in their respective fields, from social media to leadership, to give you timely, practical, and actionable advice when it comes to reopening. Check back regularly to find more speakers and events.

NYPL's Virtual Career Fair

Thursday, June 25 | 12 Noon
NYPL's business librarians are partnering with Workforce1 Centers from across the five boroughs for a virtual career fair. Workforce1 helps New Yorkers prepare for, and connect to, jobs across New York City and in every sector of the economy. Register online to receive a link to participate, plus sign up to receive a recording and other materials from the session.

Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools

Tuesday, June 23 | 5 PM
Brian Jones, Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center, and Professor Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive, join Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy at Georgia State University, and Dr. Dena Simmons, Assistant Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and an associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center, to discuss abolitionist teaching and the schools our children deserve. Haymarket Books is partnering with the Schomburg Center to produce this digital teach-in.

New & Noteworthy

Teaching Anti-Racism: Racial Equity Resources

If you and your children or students are discussing the history of racism, the context for the current uprisings, and anti-racist activism—whether it be over the internet or the kitchen table—The New York Public Library can support you. With book lists, discussion questions, and external resources, the Library can help you and your kids in navigating difficult conversations and understanding our world.

Vintage Recipes for Modern Cooks

 Vintage recipes can amaze, amuse, and tell us about the past, such as food fads and cooking trends from the era they were published. Our librarians have gathered a list of cookbooks that feature vintage recipes updated for modern cooks and bakers for you to explore on your own.

Teaching American History with NYPL Digital Collections: Revolutionary New York

Few realize that the first major battle of the American Revolution took place right here in New York. Teaching the Revolutionary War from the perspective of New York City offers an accessible, place-based opportunity to engage students in one of the most important eras in American history, and The New York Public Library has a bevy of resources to support students and educators on this journey.

The Howard Colored Orphan Asylum: New York's First Black-Run Orphanage

Our Black New York series explores the many areas of New York City where African Americans have lived and thrived. For this segment, we head to Brooklyn, circa 1870, to learn more about New York's first Black-run orphanage for freed children.

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