Rice University hosts Juneteenth events

Juneteenth has been celebrated in Texas since the end of the Civil War, a commemoration of the day in 1865 when U.S. forces arrived in Galveston to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation in the state.

Rice honored the holiday with a discussion series on June 15 to address issues of race, racism and injustice. Author Annette Gordon-Reed joined audiences June 20 to discuss her book “On Juneteenth,” which recounts the holiday’s origins and the complex history of Black Texans before, during and after the rise of chattel slavery in the state.

Provost Amy Dittmar welcomed guests to the June 15 panels, starting with her own story of what drew her to join the university.

“One of the many things that attracted me to come to Rice from Michigan a year ago was its honest and authentic approach to its history, disparities and racial justice. As we build Rice’s future together, I want the future to be much more diverse, more equitable and inclusive for all.”

The first panel focused on questions of Black unity amidst Black social and cultural difference. Brandon R. Byrd, associate professor of history and African American diaspora studies at Vanderbilt University, posited that history helps us think not just about how unity and difference have been understood historically but also when and where those understandings have taken shape. He used the historical reference of a small enclave in Topeka, Kansas, whose Black residents engaged in a broad, sometimes multi-racial, post-emancipation Black politics as key to achieving what they understood as true freedom and their ultimate racial destiny in the United States.

Masonya J. Bennett, assistant professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University, is a scholar of African Caribbean and Afro Latinx immigrants in the south and the ways these groups intersect with Black Americans. Specifically, she uses the diversities of nationality, citizenship and class to explore the questions of what Blackness is and how various kinds of Black peoples understand the boundaries of blackness. Her discussion highlighted how sameness and differences can coexist, and that blackness can have many disparate attributes as well as a shared history.

Jeanelle Hope, director and associate professor of African American studies at Prairie View A&M University, detailed her studies of the works of Ida B. Wells Barnett and others, whose writings illustrate the conditions of African Americans throughout the South and the roots of a burgeoning Black anti-fascism in the United States.

The second panel centered on key questions in Black leadership and featured Derek R. Avery ’01, C.T. Bauer Chair of Inclusive Leadership at the University of Houston, and Alison V. Hall Birch, assistant professor of business at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Annette Gordon-Reed
Avery examined the intersection between race and leadership, which precipitated three themes for him: the leadership paradox, which shows Black leaders can be hyper-visible and invisible at the same time; the trend to discount positive outcomes from and more harshly penalize Black leaders; and the contrary nature of investors when Black people take positions of authority in a company.

Hall Birch tracked leadership related to diversity roles. More narrowly, she tested theories about perceptions that Black employees are more uniquely competent to lead diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Similar to Avery’s findings, Hall Birch concluded that when failure occurred on the job, it was more closely related to issues like less specific job-relevant qualifications for appointment to the position and less organizational investment which leads to burnout.

The final discussion, “Very Ready for the Year Ahead,” included talks from three Rice DEI leaders: Richard Baker, executive director for HR people, equity and development and Title IX coordinator; Cecilia Fernández, assistant director of diversity, equity, inclusion and outreach for the George R. Brown School of Engineering; and Constance Porter, senior associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion and associate clinical professor of marketing in the Jones School of Business.

Baker framed his presentation from the context of Harris County’s demographics 40 years ago and today to guide Rice’s recruitment efforts in a representative effort following shifts in the population’s diversity over time. Fernández’s remarks traced the School of Engineering’s recently launched DEI center with a focus on building an inclusive environment, assessing the social and institutional environment, and community development. Porter addressed a School of Business program focused on the unmet needs of historically underserved populations of small business owners and the synergistic impact made by elevating equity and entrepreneurship.

Alexander X. Byrd ’90, vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion; Danielle King, assistant professor of psychological sciences; and Fay Yarbrough ’97, associate dean of humanities, and professor of history moderated the three discussions.

On June 20, Annette Gordon-Reed, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, delivered a lecture about her book “On Juneteenth.”

The book reflects on her experience as a young girl in Conroe, Texas, growing up in the era of desegregation. It’s also a reflection on Black life and the possibilities of democracy within Texas.

Annette Gordon-Reed
In describing the book, she recounted grappling with others’ misunderstandings of her home state.

“Most people see Texas as a purely western state. They think about it with cowboys, and cattle ranchers and oil men,” she said. “…But people don’t talk as much about the Texas plantation owner. If you don’t talk about the Texas plantation owner, you don’t know a lot about the origins of Texas. Some of the reasons Texas is the way that it is today is because Texas was a slave state.”

Her time writing the book coincided with the murder of George Floyd, which caused a resurgence in interest in understanding the United States’ relationship with slavery and its impact since its abolishment.

“It bolstered my decision to write the book, that this was the right thing to do,” she said. “Juneteenth is not just about the day Juneteenth. It’s about the lead up to it, and the aftermath of it. I think of Juneteenth as one end of one struggle, but [it’s also] the beginning of another struggle… a struggle that we’re still in at this moment.”

Gordon-Reed detailed her encounters with racism as a child and the interests she held that led her to a pursue law school and eventually become a prize-winning author who would document historical events and figures.

She finished her time by describing why she views Juneteenth as both a celebration and a commemoration.

“Juneteenth should be a celebration because the people who heard those words [of the Emancipation Proclamation] and understood what had happened were happy. They were happy because they knew that the system of legalized slavery, the system of buying and selling people on auction blocks, [was finally over],” she said. “It is also a commemoration that a new struggle was born on that particular day and that we have the opportunity and responsibility to carry things forward.”

W. Caleb McDaniel, Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Humanities and co-chair of the Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice, moderated a question-and-answer period with Gordon-Reed following her talk.