Galloway, N.J. – The School of Arts & Humanities and the Africana Studies program of Stockton University will host an event celebrating Black music and commemorating Juneteenth on Thursday, June 15, at the Atlantic City campus.

The event, “A Pre-Juneteenth Celebration of Black Music,” will feature music selections by Donnetrice “DJ Mello-Dee” Allison, chair of the Africana Studies program, games, food and prizes.

The celebration – open to students, staff, faculty and community members – will be housed in the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Room in the John F. Scarpa Academic Center at Stockton Atlantic City beginning at 5 p.m.

Stockton University commemorates Juneteenth with different events every year – the first event in 2020 was a march for justice and Black lives, while last year’s event in 2022 centered on community-building and celebration.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States that serves to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans. According to the National Museum of African-American History & Culture of the Smithsonian Museum, many that were previously enslaved were liberated after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. However, there were around 250,000 enslaved African-Americans that had yet to hear the news in the then-Confederate state of Texas. Freedom for those in Texas didn’t come until June 19, 1865, when around 2,000 Union troops marched into Galveston Bay, Texas.