Parade in Richmond, Virginia for Emancipation Day, April 3, 1905. Source: Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.
Today is Juneteenth, an annual celebration of the official end of slavery in the United States. There is a new level of importance for the holiday this year as we come together as a community, many for the first time, to honor what this day marks and represents.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when freedom finally reached all enslaved people in the deepest parts of the Confederacy. This happened two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union General Gordon Granger freed slaves in most remote areas of Texas. Today, this holiday is celebrated as a day when Americans grapple with history, analyze the present, and strategize a way forward into the future.
We encourage all CAFILM Blog readers to join Bay Area Juneteenth celebrations, protests, observances, and presentations, and to look into ways to take action to honor the legacy of Juneteenth. Among others, we offer SURJ: Showing Up for Racial Justice, and to consider donating to the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Bryan Stevenson, whose story is told in JUST MERCY.
At CFI, our mission is to celebrate and promote film as art and education. Via our online streaming platform Rafael@Home, we are currently offering films which focus on Black stories. Additionally, we’ve provided links to many films centered on the Black experience and available to stream online now.
RECOMMENDED FILMS ON RAFAEL@HOME:
Click on images for complete film and streaming information
RECOMMENDED FILMS ON OTHER PLATFORMS:
12 YEARS A SLAVE (Steve McQueen, 2013) Where To Watch
13th (Ava DuVernay, 2016) Watch on Netflix
CLEMENCY (Chinonye Chukwu, 2019) Where To Watch
DA 5 BLOODS (Spike Lee, 2020) Watch on Netflix
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (Julie Dash, 1991) Where To Watch
FRUITVALE STATION (Ryan Cooler, 2013) Where to Watch
HIDDEN FIGURES (Theodore Melfi, 2017) Where to Watch
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Barry Jenkins, 2018) Where To Watch
JUST MERCY (Destin Daniel Cretton, 2019) Where to Watch
LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (Joe Talbot, 2019) Where to Watch
LIFE AND NOTHING MORE (Antonio Méndez Esparza, 2017) Where To Watch
LOVING (Jeff Nichols, 2016) Where To Watch
MALCOLM X (Spike Lee, 1992) Where to Watch
MOONLIGHT (Barry Jenkins, 2016) Where To Watch
MUDBOUND (Dee Rees, 2017) Where To Watch
SELMA (Ava DuVernay, 2014) Where to Watch
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (Boots Riley, 2018) Where to Watch
THE HATE U GIVE (George Tillman, Jr., 2018) Where to Watch
