Trojans celebrate history and freedom at USC’s largest on-campus Juneteenth event to date

Trojans gathered on Thursday for a powerful and joyous program in honor of Juneteenth, the 160-year-old tradition celebrating the emancipation of enslaved Americans.

“Juneteenth reminds us that freedom is not just declared, it must be delivered,” emcee Kash Amos said as he greeted the event’s more than 300 attendees at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center on USC’s University Park Campus.

Amos, a senior at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said this year’s theme of “Educate, Innovate and Elevate: Reinvesting in Our Communities” calls on the community “to act, to learn, to build and to uplift.”

It was on June 19, 1865, that enslaved Black people in Texas were finally told they had been freed — 2 1/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Black communities have celebrated Juneteenth for generations, but the day did not become a federal holiday until the signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Carol Folt on Juneteenth: ‘Black history is American history’

USC’s celebration included a traditional African libation honoring ancestors, a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black national anthem, and a soul food brunch.

As she stood in line for the offerings from Los Angeles restaurant Annie’s Soul Delicious, graduate student Ayomi Fadaka of the Keck School of Medicine of USC said she appreciated being able to attend her very first Juneteenth celebration at USC.

“I like the emphasis on community and just being able to celebrate with everybody,” she said. “It’s a good thing to have people connect together, to have music and food, and to build community.”

The event also featured several speakers, including USC President Carol Folt.

“Black history is American history,” Folt said in her remarks made from the steps of the Gwynn Wilson Student Union. “I believe that so strongly, and I’m so proud of it. … We need to understand it, and we can never let it be silenced.”

Folt, whose final day as president is June 30, noted the remarkable growth of the event as she looked back on the university’s first official Juneteenth celebration in 2020, which was held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She also paid tribute to several prominent Black Trojans, including Professor Percival Everett of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, who won the Pulitzer Prize this year for his bestselling novel James. Folt credited Everett with inspiring students to express themselves in their own stories.

“Black History at USC is being made every single day, and it’s a history that all Trojans share,” Folt said. “It takes dedication for people to keep working all the time, to be their best selves and to promote others. I have no doubt that this community and the Trojan Family will continue to do that.”

Knowing history and an ongoing journey

Professor LaVonna Lewis of the USC Price School of Public Policy told attendees that when she was growing up in Oklahoma, she was not even taught about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in history class. It is believed to be the single worst incident of racial violence in American history and took place in her home state.

“Blissful ignorance is not knowing what you don’t know, and willful ignorance is choosing not to know,” Lewis said. “I am an educator because I want to help as many people as I possibly can who don’t know that there’s more to the history than was written in the books.”

In her remarks, USC Black Staff and Faculty Caucus President Cynthia Brass reminded the crowd that there is still work to be done in the journey toward “true and genuine freedom, equality and liberation for Black Americans.”

“Juneteenth is a powerful symbol of hope and progress,” Brass said. “But remember, the fight for freedom and equality is a continuous fight that requires an ongoing commitment.”

Students and alumni savor Juneteenth

Recent graduate John Russell of the USC Marshall School of Business has celebrated Juneteenth only in recent years.

“It’s since the beginning of this decade that it’s become more mainstream,” said Russell, who now works at USC in undergraduate admissions. “Now, I try to do something on the holiday that honors my ancestors.”

For Amos, being front and center at the event was a deep honor.

“I think it’s important seeing your people all in the same space, allowing yourself to breathe and to be comfortable within your environment,” Amos said after completing his emcee duties. “Feeling like you are being celebrated is important for everybody on this day, and it’s meant a lot.”