Your Google homepage is ???? ????? ?????ready for Juneteenth (even if the federal government somehow still doesn't acknowledge the long-celebrated holiday).
On the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, Google debuted a new video Doodle for the holiday, which marks the true end of chattel slavery in the United States.
Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the abolition of chattel slavery had a much slower and more complicated end than many realize, as Angelica McKinley, Google's project creative director for the Doodle, pointed out in a blog post.
Confederate states defied the executive order years after it was mandated, and it wasn't until enslaved people in Galveston, Texas (which was relatively far from other parts of the Confederate South) heard news of their freedom that chattel slavery as a practice actually "ended."
However, plenty of people still think that the Emancipation Proclamation was a cure-all that magically eliminated chattel slavery, McKinley notes. That's not the case at all.
"At its best, this limited narrative reduces the struggle for Black liberation in America to a singular moment," McKinley wrote in the blog post. "And at its worst, it perpetuates an incomplete truth that robs every American of understanding what actually happened after slavery was reformed."
In the years since, as McKinley alludes to, the original system of chattel slavery morphed into other systems of disenfranchisement for Black people in the U.S., from sharecropping to Jim Crow laws to mass incarceration, that continue to perpetuate the racial injustice we see in our country today.
While Juneteenth provides a day to recognize the complexity of emancipation, McKinley notes that "Juneteenth’s absence in the mainstream U.S. historical narrative has made it an unknown holiday to many for decades."
She continued: "I was shocked that schools back home hadn’t taught us about the day and that my family was completely unaware of it. But my initial disappointment has shifted to optimism as I’ve witnessed a resurgence of this day in the American consciousness." McKinley grew up in Memphis. She first learned about Juneteenth when she attended Hampton University, a historically Black university in Virginia.
The public has certainly taken note of the holiday recently. In the past week, Google search interest in "Juneteenth meaning" spiked over 800 percent, and Juneteenth hit an all-time search high, according to Google trends data.
Additionally, "emancipation meaning" spiked over 1,200 percent, and "Emancipation Proclamation" was a breakout search, according to the same data from Google.
Google employees won't have the day off as an official holiday, however. Instead, Google has told employees to not schedule any unnecessary meetings.
But Google Calendar now recognizes Juneteenth as a U.S. holiday (Apple made the move in 2018). Also, a new exhibit on Google Arts & Culture from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture provides information on the historical legacy of Juneteenth.
And of course, there's the new Doodle.
The Doodle was designed by Los Angeles artist Loveis Wise, with narration from actor and activist LeVar Burton and music produced by Elijah Jamal.
Set to a verse from the poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing," by James Weldon Johnson, the Doodle walks through the history of Juneteenth and the ongoing fight for racial justice led by Black trailblazers throughout U.S. history. (It can be watched here.)
Asked in a Q&A from Google what he wanted people to take away from the Doodle, Jamal replied: "Hope! We have a long way to go, but with hope, anything is possible."
Related Video: ‘Miss Juneteenth’ director talks about capturing her hometown on film
Topics Social Good