Celebrating Juneteenth

In celebration of Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.—the date originating from a Texas proclamation in 1865, we are presenting three extraordinary, groundbreaking films which honor the complexity and beauty of being a Black American. Selections include Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, which continues to be strikingly relevant in its portrayal of police brutality and racial tensions in Bed-Stuy; Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, which broke gender, race and language barriers thirty years ago, and is inspired by the story of the Geechee or Gullah people who live off the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia and have close connections to their African heritage; and Channing Godfrey Peoples’s critically acclaimed Miss Juneteenth, which follows such Texan traditions for Juneteenth as pageants and parades, and embodies the sense of community, family, and joy cherished during this holiday.