Celebrate Juneteenth with Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am! and Special Guests

AARP Ohio celebrates Juneteenth in recognition of the many contributions by the African American community. One of these contributors was the late Toni Morrison, who was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. She went on to become a highly renowned professor and writer for driving the conversation of race in America, winning a Nobel Prize in Literature.

AARP Ohio is hosting a virtual screening of her biographical film, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am! as part of its Juneteenth celebration and Special Movies for Grownups series. The film will be shown Friday, June 18 at 6:30 pm. There will also be a virtual Coffee Shop Conversation discussing the film with Dr. Dana Williams, President of the Toni Morrison Society, and the film’s director, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. This discussion will take place at 6:00 pm before the film screening.

Registration is free at https://local.aarp.org/aarp-event/aarp-ohio-movie-night-toni-morrison-the-pieces-i-am-n9n44yp9zcv.html. Those interested must register by June 18 at 12:00 pm.

Falling on June 19^th of every year, Juneteenth marks the true end of slavery in the United States. January 1, 1863, brought the Emancipation Proclamation, April 9, 1865, brought the end of the American Civil War, and December 6, 1865, brought the ratification of the 13^th Amendment. However, June 19, 1865 marks the United States Army’s arrival in Galveston, Texas to ensure the freedom of slaves. Finally reaching Texas, General Gordon Granger said, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” as described by History.

Emancipation Day is more commonly celebrated as a holiday, according to OSU Professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries in The Lantern. Gallipolis, Ohio, started celebrating its yearly Emancipation Day just one year after the proclamation’s signing, as said by WOSU. The difference, Jeffries says, is “’[Juneteenth] has to do with the people who were liberated. The Emancipation Proclamation has to do with the person who signed the document.’”

Juneteenth began as a relatively local event to Texas, compared to Emancipation Day. According to the New York Times, some former slaves and their descendants returned to Galveston as pilgrimage on June 19. Nowadays, Juneteenth is more of a backyard celebration, although many cities host events and parades.

On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth was officially established as a national holiday. Prior to this, some states have declared June 19 as state holidays, and even some companies have even made it a paid day off. There were also recent efforts in Ohio to designate June 19 as a paid state holiday. Regarding Ohio’s most recent attempt in February, Cleveland.com notes, “Ohio has observed ‘Juneteenth National Freedom Day’ since 2009. But Senate Bill 78… would make Ohio the second state (after Texas) to make June 19 a paid state holiday.” This comes after another attempt last December that received unanimous support in the Ohio Senate, but the Ohio House failed to act on time.

Although Ohio was not a slave state, the repercussions of slavery still permeate within all levels of modern American society. To this day, there are many injustices faced by African Americans. AARP Ohio serves with the message of Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus in mind: “What we do, we do for all.”