WHERE:
Breslin Center (534 Birch Rd, Gilbert Pavilion entrance)
WHEN:
June 14, 2024
WHAT:
Openings and Receptions, Social, Talks, Panels, and Presentations
ABOUT
Attend the 4th annual MSU Juneteenth Commemorative Celebration on Friday, June 14, 2024, at the Breslin Center.
This year’s theme is Acknowledging the Journey: Freedom, Resilience, Empowerment, and Liberation. The commemoration features the multi-faceted musician and MSU alum Rodney Page as the emcee, the MSU College of Music Jazz Quintet, a Black Wall Street Vendor Fair, and “The Comet” Afrofuturism exhibit with graphic novelist Tim Fielder, and more.
Who should attend: This free celebration is open to students, staff, faculty, alumni, and local community. There are activities for all ages. (Register to attend.)
When: Friday, June 14, from 5-8:30 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Breslin Center (534 Birch Rd, Gilbert Pavilion entrance). This event will not be livestreamed.
Parking: Free of charge in Lot 63 and Ramp 7 (both off Harrison Road)
Food will be provided by MSU’s Kellogg Catering and local Black-owned business, Sweet Encounter.
Tim Fielder, a graphic novelist known for works such as “Matty’s Rocket” and “Infinitum,” is adapting W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Comet,” an early 20th-century short story recognized today as one of the earliest Afrofuturist stories.
Professor and Val Berryman Curator of History at the MSU Museum, Julian C. Chambliss will bring the Carnegie Hall featured artist to MSU for a special Afrofuturism exhibit at the Breslin Center event. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet Fielder and learn more about “The Comet,” due out in fall 2025.
Fielder was featured in PBS/WKAR documentary “Afrofantastic: The Transformative World of Afrofuturism,” developed by Chambliss in 2023.
On June 19, 1865, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation orders were given to free the over 250,000 African American slaves in Texas who had not yet been informed of the decree. Juneteenth, short for June nineteenth, is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.
A century and a half later, Juneteenth is not taught in schools or widely known. MSU recognizes the importance of celebrating the full history of the U.S. so that everyone receives the recognition they deserve as builders of a great nation.