Galveston Island

• This is a book about the power of place and memory, and Smith makes this abundantly clear in this chapter: "being in this place, standing on the same small island where the freedom of a quarter million people was proclaimed, I felt the history pulse through my body" (p. 174). Have you had a similar experience of the past at a place of memory?
• Compare and contrast Smith's description of Ashton Villa contrast with his description of the Blandford Church.
• Smith reflects deeply upon education of slavery in this chapter (especially pp. 178-80) and in the chapter on Gorée Island. According to Smith, what is the right way to teach and learn about slavery, and why is it so vitally important?
• Discuss Smith's experience of singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the Black National Anthem, on Juneteenth (pp. 181-82).
• Stephen Duncan is not a tour guide in the same sense as those who Smith experienced at Monticello, Whitney, Angola, and Blandford. However, Stephen's role on Juneteenth can be usefully compared to some of these tour guides. Explain.
• How did Juneteenth "come to serve as an open rebuke to the emerging Lost Cause narrative of the late 1800s"?
• Discuss Al Edwards Sr's contributions to Juneteenth and racial justice. What can we learn from his success?
• Why is it important for Texas, the United States, and now Chico State to formally recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday?
• On p. 197, Sue says that "conversations rarely happen in our community largely because there is a fear of whom it might offend." What is your response to this? Is this true of your community? Of our community? Why is it important that these conversations happen (you might consider Jackie Bostic's conversation with Smith in Houston (pp. 199-204))?

• Discover the Best Ways to Celebrate Juneteenth in Galveston official site

• "Juneteenth." National Museum of African American History and Culture.
• "Juneteenth and General Orders, No. 3." Galveston Historical Foundation.
• "Juneteenth Celebrations Over Time in Pictures." The Guardian.
• Texas HB 1016. Relating to a declaration of Emancipation Day in Texas as a legal holiday.
• CSU, Chico Associated Students Resolution in Support of Juneteenth as an AS-Wide Recognized Holiday. September 16th, 2020 (PDF)
• A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021. 

Available in Meriam Library

• Blanck, Emily. “Galveston on San Francisco Bay: Juneteenth in the Fillmore District, 1945–2016.” The Western historical quarterly 50, no. 2 (2019): 85–112.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. On Juneteenth. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021.

Additional recommendations? Email bic@csuchico.edu