Rice University hosted a panel discussion June 14 titled “Juneteenth and Justice for All: Black Struggle, the Constitution and Democratic Futures.” It is part of a monthlong series of events recognizing the federal holiday and its place in history.
The panel was led by Alexander Byrd ’90, vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion, for a discussion of how past freedom fighters such as Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan conceived of emancipation and democratic futures as well as how the work of Juneteenth continues today.
The panel consisted of Kenitra Brown ’07, president of the Association of Rice University Black Alumni and senior policy analyst at the Texas Indigent Defense Commission; Sherwin K. Bryant, director for Rice’s Center for African and African American Studies; Mary Ellen Curtin, associate professor of critical race, gender and culture studies at American University; Kimberly V. Jones ’19, assistant professor of Black diaspora in North America and African American history at the University of Denver; and Omar Syed, vice president and general counsel at Rice.