Blackbaud Celebrates Juneteenth

Monday, June 19, is Juneteenth—the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of legal slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, the last enslaved people around the country learned that they had been emancipated—two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced on January 1, 1863.

At Blackbaud, we are proud to educate ourselves about the stories and resilience of Black Americans over the centuries and to reflect on the lived experiences of many in the Black community who bravely fought for liberation from slavery. Today, Juneteenth celebrations continue to preserve and elevate these accounts of America’s history.

To celebrate, employees have curated an exciting list of educational and inspirational activities leading up to the Juneteenth holiday. These activities included:

• Hearing from an author and genealogist on the history of one of the oldest intact freedmen homes in Edisto, South Carolina—the Historical Hutchinson House, constructed in 1885
• A virtual cooking demonstration featured a recipe from Gullah-Geechee chef and James Beard Award recipient, Mrs. Emily Hutchinson Meggett
• An opportunity to record and archive pieces of family history in the Library of Congress with StoryCorps.

We enjoyed this time to listen, learn, and grow together! Happy Juneteenth.