Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Celebrates Juneteenth in New Way
Today in some deep south states is the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery. It began on June 19th, 1865, after Union soldiers finally got word to Texas that slavery had ended — almost 3 years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute normally hosts a festival, but for this particular anniversary members decided to do something different.
This year, officials at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and at the Equal Justice Initiative decided to take the Juneteenth celebration in a different direction. Instead of the music, food vendors and contests of the past, they held a press conference featuring speakers including BCRI President and CEO Priscilla Cooper. BCRI Outreach Coordinator Samuel Pugh says the conference’s purpose was encourage conversation and education about Juneteenth’s history for this 150th anniversary.
“It’s one thing to celebrate something,” he says, “It’s one thing to have a party about something, but it’s something else when you get the knowledge of why you are celebrating.”
Educational programs for Juneteenth will continue Saturday at BCRI with a movie screening of “Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slaves Narratives,” and a performance by the Make It Happen theater group.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
Alabama’s racial, ethnic health disparities are ‘more severe’ than other states, report says
Data from the Commonwealth Fund show that the quality of care people receive and their health outcomes worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
