East Brunswick Public Library To Host Lecture Honoring Juneteenth

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — The East Brunswick Public Library is hosting a Zoom lecture on June 16, 7 p.m. in honor of Juneteenth.

Titled ‘A Reflection on Social Justice and Emancipation,’ the lecture is co-sponsored by the New Brunswick Public Library, and Matawan-Aberdeen Public Library.

The lecture is among several in-person and virtual events planned by Middlesex County to mark Juneteenth – an annual holiday celebrated June 19 that commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people of Texas finally learned slavery had been abolished and that they were free.

Gretchen Sorin will present on the significance of the holiday, and how the automobile transformed the notion of liberation by providing safe travel for African Americans.

Sorin, the author of Driving While Black, traces the role of the automobile in fundamentally reshaping African American life in the book.

A New Jersey native, Sorin is Director and Distinguished Service Professor at the Cooperstown Graduate Program. She is also a Fellow of the New York Academy of historians.

To join the lecture, click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81525722561

Meeting ID is 815 2572 2561. Attendees can also dial-in via telephone: 929 436 2866

As part of New Jersey’s first official commemoration of Juneteenth, Middlesex County will mark the holiday with County-wide celebrations beginning with the Central Jersey Chapters of NAACP and the Arts Institute of Middlesex County mural painting event in New Brunswick on Wednesday, June 16 and Thursday, June 17, and concluding with multiple flag raisings across the County.

“Middlesex County is proud to be part of New Jersey’s first official celebration of Juneteenth,” said County Commissioner Director Ronald G. Rios.

“In close partnership with NAACP branches throughout the County, the Arts Institute of Middlesex County and the New Brunswick Cultural Center, Inc. have organized a slate of events that celebrate Juneteenth while educating the public about this important day in our nation’s history. Commemorating Juneteenth, the day on which the last enslaved people in America learned of their freedom, honors our fellow Americans who suffered the atrocities of slavery.”

The celebrations include live and virtual events throughout the County, including music and dance performances and speeches.