Juneteenth 2024 at Dartmouth

A talk on metaracism was followed by a celebration on campus.

6/21/2024

Dartmouth marked Juneteenth this year with a talk on metaracism from a Brown University professor, followed by a campus celebration on Juneteenth itself.

More than 60 people attended the talk in Dartmouth Hall on Tuesday, June 18, by Tricia Rose, the Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown.

Since Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, many places across the country are closed in observance. Dartmouth is unable to close during several holidays due to the academic calendar and the need to remain operational across four terms. In lieu of being able to close, in 2022 eligible employees were granted a floating holiday that can be used at the employee’s discretion at any point during the fiscal year in consultation with their supervisor.

Dartmouth last year started an annual tradition of commemorating Juneteenth as a community, and this year 250 people joined a celebration on June 19 held on Dartmouth-owned greenspace on Clement Road that featured a DJ, food trucks, Double Dutch, and other activities.

(Photos by Kata Sasvari)

Tricia Rose, left, the author of Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives—and How We Break Free, speaks with Senior Vice President and Senior Diversity Officer Shontay Delalue about Juneteenth at the Dartmouth Hall event on June 18.

Audience members at the Juneteenth lecture

Dartmouth Hall 105 was full for the talk by Tricia Rose.

Citing her book, Tricia Rose, left, the Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, defined metaracism as “the metaeffect of systemic racism” and “the dynamic, compounding patterns of racial disadvantage and discrimination produced by the interconnections among policies and practices across society over time.”

DJ Sean Hay of Live Mix Kings at the Juneteenth gathering got everyone in a celebratory mood.

From left, Laura Braasch, assistant director of the Sustainability Office, Senior Vice President and Senior Diversity Officer Shontay Delalue, Senior Video Producer Chris Johnson, and Billy Braasch, Guarini ’20, at the Juneteenth celebration.