This week many will be celebrating Juneteenth, a nationally-recognized holiday that celebrates enslaved people's release from bondage in Galveston Bay, Texas, two years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
Since President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021, more people have learned the history behind the holiday. The celebration of its themes of liberation and resilience have also become more widespread.
One celebration this year aiming to honor those themes is an arts festival hosted by Literary Cleveland and ThirdSpace Action Lab called, "Culture, Community & Liberation: A Juneteenth Celebration." It is happening on Saturday, June 22, and this marks the first year that the two organizations have teamed up to create Juneteenth programming.
Monday on the “Sound of Ideas,” we’ll talk about the history and importance of Juneteenth, and preview this event.
Later in this hour, we'll discuss Sojourner Truth's connection to Akron. It was there that she gave her famed “Ain’t I A Woman” speech, and a new plaza was just unveiled to honor the abolitionist and suffragist.
Finally to close the show, we'll meet the new coach of the U.S. Men's Deaf National Soccer Team, Everett Palache. He’s a Northeast Ohio native who was recently selected to lead the team, after years of playing and coaching throughout the region.
Guests:
- Calil Cage (JUST C.O.S.), Poet, Chief Operating Officer, Poetry Unplugged; Founder, The Sparrow's Fortune Poetry Collective
- Evenlyn Burnett, Co-founder and CEO, ThirdSpace Action Lab
- Michelle Smith, Programming Director, Literary Cleveland
- Towanda Mullins, Chair, Truth Statue Project
- Dion Harris, Summit Metroparks Landscape Architect and Landscape Architect of Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza
- Everett Palache, Coach, U.S. Men's Deaf National Soccer Team
