Recognizing Our Diverse Community
June 19th, known as Juneteenth, is a holiday celebrated to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. You can learn more about this HERE.
June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day (formerly National Aboriginal Day). This is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada. The day was first celebrated in 1996, after it was proclaimed that year by then Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc, to be celebrated annually on June 21st. This date was chosen as the statutory holiday for many reasons, including its cultural significance as the Summer solstice, and the fact that it is a day on which many Indigenous peoples and communities traditionally celebrate their heritage. You can learn more about this HERE.
Pride Day, also known as International LGBT+ Pride Day, is celebrated on June 28th to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City's Greenwich Village. The riots were a response to police harassment and social discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community, and sparked a series of protests that galvanized the gay rights movement. The first Pride marches took place on June 28th, 1970, the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social groupYou can read more about this HERE.
