News

• June 22, 2020

  Juneteenth: A Day for Reflection, Conversation, and Learning

  This year marked the 155th anniversary of the date when enslaved people in Texas finally received word that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two-and-a-half years earlier. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day; is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States.

• June 22, 2020

  Historian Mary Frances Berry Responds to the George Floyd Protests

  Mary Frances professor of American Social Thought and professor of history and Africana studies, speaks with Penn Today about protesting injustice, pushing for change, and the history of African American civil rights. America is in mourning. Across the country, people grieve for George Floyd, who died on May 25. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man and father. As Floyd lay handcuffed, face down in the street, a police officer pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes until the man finally ceased breathing.

• June 15, 2020

  The Daily Pennsylvanian Covers the Sachs Program’s New Funding Opportunity

  The DP interviewed John McInerney, Chloe Reison, and Tamara Suber about the Sachs Program's new funding opportunity. The program is inviting proposals for projects led by or primarily serving Black artists and practitioners within the Penn community. All members of the Penn community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni, are eligible to apply.

• June 11, 2020

  Kindred spirits: Irish-Native American Solidarity

  A fundraiser for two Native American tribes hard hit by the pandemic has received tens of thousands of dollars from donors in Ireland. The Choctaw Nation sent the Irish monetary aid during the Irish Potato Famine. During this dark period in Irish history over 1 million Irish died while they were abandoned by their British rulers. But the Irish never forget, and we are repaying the generosity of the Choctaw Nation now in 2020.

• June 11, 2020

  Scholarship Through the Lens of an Iconic Media Brand

  A new Annenberg course centered around HBO offered undergrads hands-on exposure to media production and a chance to hone their analytical skills using primary source materials. “We thought it could be a nice opportunity for students to think differently, more critically about important media content,” Annenberg dean John L. Jackson, Jr. and Amitanshu Das, a senior fellow and filmmaker at Annenberg and the Graduate School of Education.