Juneteenth celebration brings together UTC community

Staff, faculty, students and summer program members participated in a Juneteenth celebration in Lupton Hall on June 14. Photo by Angela Foster.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga celebrated Juneteenth on Friday, June 14, with an on-campus event at Lupton Hall.

The UTC Juneteenth Celebration, sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Black Faculty and Staff Association, brought together faculty, staff and students from across campus—plus alumni, family members and summer camp visitors—to learn about the culture, heritage and origins of Juneteenth.

Observed annually on June 19, Juneteenth marks the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, celebrating the day the news of their liberation reached Texas. This significant event took place on June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced General Order No. 3—declaring all enslaved individuals in Texas to be free.

This declaration came two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which proclaimed freedom for all enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas. However, due to the sparse presence of Union forces in Texas during the Civil War, the enforcement of this proclamation was delayed, and the news of emancipation took time to reach the state.

The UTC celebration brought more than 250 people to the Lupton Hall first-floor lobby for food, games, and music provided by Christian Thompson (also known as DJ Chi).

“This is a day for our campus to show up, show together, and show some unity across all areas of campus from all walks of life,” Multicultural Affairs Assistant Director Christopher Stokes said. “We’re really excited to be able to host this annual event for the campus and for our community.

“We thank the campus, our partners, and everyone coming together so that we can share this joyous occasion.”

Stokes noted the many groups that came to Lupton Hall, including students from the Governor’s School program and from one of the campus’ newer summer programs for women in science called ANGELS—led by Dr. Jose Barbosa and Dr. Sandra Affare.

“We have partners from all across the campus here who are sharing and volunteering with us today,” he said, “and our primary partner is the Black Faculty and Staff Association—which has helped us since the inception of this event to make it what it is today.”

Sherese Williams, the Honors College director of operations and admissions, is president of the UTC Black Faculty and Staff Association. The BFSA, she said, “is happy to have Juneteenth as one of our core programs.”

“This is an opportunity to bring the campus together to celebrate Juneteenth, to understand and learn the history, but it also gives us an opportunity at having community,” Williams said. “During the summer, it’s so easy for us not to see each other because we don’t have the student population that we have in the fall and spring.

“This event really gives us all an opportunity to socialize, to have fellowship and celebrate while helping educate people on the history of Juneteenth.”

In 2021, Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday. The state of Tennessee acknowledged Juneteenth as an official state holiday for the first time in 2023.

The UT System observes Juneteenth as a paid holiday—and all its offices, campuses and institutes will be closed on Wednesday, June 19.