Uhuru Voices Presents: The Hidden History of Juneteenth - Walking In Our Ancestor's Shoes

Greetings! Welcome to the "Uhuru Voices" blog featuring the students of The Uhuru Academy. The purpose of this blog is to share our history, to celebrate our freedom, and to feel proud of who we are. We want to thank the South Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Festival for inviting us to be apart of their mission to uplift the community beyond the festival. We pray that you enjoy what we have to offer. All of our entries are original work that we create as students of the Uhuru Academy, where we celebrate our story everyday.

For our first post, we want to share a lesson from Baba Amin, Co-founder of the Uhuru Academy, about the spirit and faith of Juneteenth. In doing that, first please allow some of our student authors to share a short statement about what Juneteenth means to them:

Kioni (13) says, "For me, Juneteenth  represents  freedom"

Laila (14) says, "For me, Juneteenth represents resilience"

Gabby (14), "For me, Juneteenth means unity, family, and uplifting our people"

Eni (14) says, "Juneteenth is a powerful and special moment for Black Americans"

Keno (11) says, "What Juneteenth means to me is Black people coming together as one."

Jalen (15) says, "For me Juneteenth means to learn our history of how we got our freedom in the first place."

Ena (16) says, "Juneteenth represents the power and resilient of the Black community"

Naim (12) says, "For me, Juneteenth is a reminder of our strength, our history, and our ongoing fight for justice."

SoveReign (13) says, "To me Juneteenth is when we celebrate our freedom of which our ancestors were fighting for their whole life, so that we could live a free life, Juneteenth also is a time when family gathers and celebrates our freedom together."

In this video, "Puppet Baba" talks about the role that Imani (faith) played in Black Americans fighting for, maintaining, and celebrating our freedom. After the video, test your knowledge by playing our Kahoot game at: https://kahoot.it/challenge/00855715

Enjoy the video and the Kahoot. And when you're done, comment on this blog what Juneteenth means to you!! Asante Sana (Thank You Very Much) for participating, and we'll see you at the 9th Annual SC Juneteenth Freedom Fest on June 21, 2025!! PEACE AND POWER!!!

UHURU VOICES

www.uhuruacademy.com