Olin commemorates Pride Month and Juneteenth

WashU Olin’s inclusion, diversity, equity and access team continues its initiative to celebrate our diverse community through monthly cultural observances. In June, we recognize LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and Juneteenth.

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month 

Also known as Pride Month, this annual celebration recognizes the LGBTQIA+ community worldwide. June was chosen as the month of celebration to commemorate the Stonewall uprising in 1969, prompted by a raid at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York.

During this time, laws and social norms prohibited open and free expression of sexual orientation for the LGBTQIA+ community, and the uprising catalyzed activism to overturn these regulations. Pride Month is currently one of the largest celebrations for peaceful protest and raising awareness. 

Juneteenth (June 19) 

Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of enslaved Black people in the United States at the end of the Civil War. The term Juneteenth is a combination of June and nineteenth, referencing the month and day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed the enslaved people of their freedom.

The announcement came two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. For more than 150 years, African American communities have observed this holiday as a second independence day. On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed into law Juneteenth National Independence Day as a federal holiday in the United States. 

Micro-learning modules available

As we participate in the celebratory nature of Pride Month and the Juneteeth holiday, we equally recognize the ongoing acts of bias, discrimination and injustice faced by these and other communities domestically and internationally.

We invite those in our community with access to learn.WashU to continue to learn more about how you can engage in the work of positive change and champion inclusion. Our micro-learning journeys from Blue Ocean Brain that are housed in the learn.WashU platform are one place to start. 

Our new micro-learning journeys for June available on the learn.WashU platform include:   

• Appreciating Diversity: Pride Month 
• Appreciating Diversity: Celebrating Juneteenth at Work 

Here are other ways to get involved and learn more:

• PrideFest, St Louis 
• Pride St. Charles Festival 
• Origins of the Pride Symbol 
• Legacy of Juneteenth
• Juneteenth Resource
• Juneteenth in the Delmar Loop