S2E6: Juneteenth and the History of Black Emancipation Days in the U.S, Dr. Melissa Stuckey

06/19/20 • 59 min

In this episode of the Cite Black Women podcast, Dr. Christen Smith sits down with Dr. Melissa Stuckey to discuss the history of Black emancipation days in the United States, Juneteenth, and the special tone this year's commemoration takes in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Dr. Stuckey discuss the special connections between George Floyd and Juneteenth in Emancipation Park in Houston, the tradition of Emancipation Days across the country, and why the history of our freedom celebrations has everything to do with our current moment. *Erratum! Please note In the podcast Dr. Stuckey mistakenly states that Watchnight Emancipation observation was 1863/1864. It should say 1862/1863. Dr. Melissa N. Stuckey is assistant professor of African American history at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in North Carolina. She is a specialist in early twentieth century black activism and is committed to engaging the public in important conversations about black freedom struggles in the United States. Dr. Stuckey is the author of several book chapters, journal, and magazine articles including “Boley, Indian Territory: Exercising Freedom in the All Black Town,” published in 2017 in the Journal of African American History and "Freedom on Her Own Terms: California M. Taylor and Black Womanhood in Boley, Oklahoma" (forthcoming in This Land is Herland: Gendered Activism in Oklahoma, 1870s to 2010s, edited by Sarah Eppler Janda and Patricia Loughlin, University of Oklahoma Press, 2020). Stuckey is currently completing her first book, entitled “All Men Up”: Seeking Freedom in the All-Black Town of Boley, Oklahoma, which interrogates the black freedom struggle in Oklahoma as it took shape in the state’s largest all-black town. Stuckey is also working on several public history projects. She has been awarded grants from the National Parks Service and the Institute for Museum and Library Services to rehabilitate a historic Rosenwald school on ECSU's campus and to preserve the history and legacy of these important African American institutions. In addition, she is a contributing historian on the NEH-funded “Free and Equal Project” in Beaufort, South Carolina, which is interpreting the story of Reconstruction for national and international audiences and is senior historical consultant to the Coltrane Group, a non-profit organization in Oklahoma committed to economic development and historic rehabilitation in the thirteen remaining historically black towns in that state. Melissa Stuckey earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her Ph.D. from Yale University

Previous Episode

S2E5: Black Women and Health Equity: Spotlight on Black Maternal Health and COVID-19

CBW Collective member Dr. Whitney Pirtle speaks with Dr. Monica McLemore about her career trajectory, moving from her long-time position as a clinical public health nurse to becoming a prominent researcher on Black maternal health and reproductive justice. They discuss the importance of centering and listening to Black women in reaching health equity, and why this matters especially in the current COVID-19 pandemic crises. Dr Monica McLemore, a tenured associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department at the University of California, San Francisco, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Dr. McLemore retired from clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse after a 28-year clinical nursing career. Her research is grounded in reproductive justice across the reproductive spectrum including abortion, birth, cancer risk, contraception, family planning, and healthy sexuality, pleasure, and consent. She has over 50 peer reviewed articles, OpEds and commentaries and her research has been cited in places including the Huffington Post, Lavender Health, a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine report. AND three amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States. She is an elected member of the governing council and chair-elect for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) section of the American Public Health Association. She is recipient of numerous awards and was recently inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in October, 2019. Whitney Pirtle PhD is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and affiliated faculty in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies and Public Health at the University of California Merced. Her areas of expertise are in race and nation, racial/ethnic health disparities and equity, Black feminist sociology, and mixed methodologies. Pirtle oversees the Sociology of Health and Equity (SHE) Lab at UC Merced and is a Cite Black Women Collective member.

Next Episode

S2E7: We Must Center Black Trans Women in This Struggle - Imara Jones

In S2E7 of the Cite Black Women podcast Cite Black Women Collective member Erica Williams sits down with journalist, intersectional-news producer, and creator of TransLash, Imara Jones, to discuss her remarkable work celebrating Black trans women's lives, fighting for justice, and imagining a Black trans future. Bio: Imara Jones, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform journalism, personal storytelling and narrative project, which produces content to shift the current culture of hostility towards transgender people in the US. In 2019 she chaired the first-ever UN High Level Meeting on Gender Diversity with over 600 participants. Imara’s work as a host, on-air news analyst, and writer focuses on the full-range of social justice and equity issues. Imara has been featured regularly in The Guardian, The Nation, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, Mic, Colorlines, and is a frequent guest host of the In The Thick podcast. Imara has held economic policy posts in the Clinton White House and communications positions at Viacom. Imara holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia. Imara is currently a Soros Equality Fellow and on the board of the Anti-violence Project, and the New Pride Agenda. She goes by the pronouns she/her. Links: TransLash.org ImaraJones.com