The university community is invited to register and participate via livestream in the California State University’s second biennial Juneteenth Symposium, hosted in partnership with Sacramento State and set to take place June 13-14.

Register for the free symposium at its virtual event registration webpage.

The CSU’s 2024 Juneteenth Symposium is designed to elevate the celebration and recognition of African American history and achievements while promoting and sustaining the anti-racism work underway across the CSU’s 23 campuses. The event will feature world-class speakers, evocative performances and thought-provoking panel discussions meant to inspire connection, innovation and continued pursuit of a just and equitable world.

Featured speakers include Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative reporter for The New York Times and the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University; Luke Wood, president, Sacramento State; Ibram X. Kendi, journalist, author and director of the Boston University Center for Antiracism Research; and Mildred García, chancellor, California State University.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when federal soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to take control of the state at the end of the Civil War and to ensure that slaves were freed. The troop’s arrival came more than two-and-one-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, which declared slaves in the confederate states as free people as of Jan. 1, 1863.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation declaring June 19, Juneteenth, a federal holiday, and on March 22, 2023, the California State University Board of Trustees adopted a resolution designating Juneteenth as a university holiday.

CSUSB will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, in commemoration of Juneteenth. The university’s San Bernardino and Palm Desert campuses will reopen for summer session classes and business on Thursday, June 20.

To learn more, Cal State San Bernardino’s John M. Pfau Library has posted online a campus Juneteenth resources and reading list.

2024 CSU Juneteenth Symposium web flyer