Dr. Mitch Kachun's Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808–1915 Published
Dr.
Mitch Kachun's Festivals of Freedom explores
the multiple functions and contested meanings surrounding African
American emancipation celebrations from the abolition of the slave
trade to the fiftieth anniversary of U.S. emancipation. Based on
extensive research in African American newspapers and oration texts,
this book retraces a vital if often overlooked tradition in African
American political culture and addresses important issues about
black participation in the public sphere. By illuminating the origins
of black Americans' public commemorations, it also helps explain
why there have been increasing calls in recent years to make the "Juneteenth" observance
of emancipation an American - not just an African American - day
of commemoration.
For more information about Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808–1915, CLICK HERE.