Dear Friends of the National Institute —

I write to you from quarantine in this, the third month of the pandemic on the occasion of the day known as Juneteenth.

Juneteenth commemorates the entry of Union General Gordon Granger into Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. General Granger informed the African-Americans there that they had been granted their freedom two years before under the Emancipation Proclamation and that the Civil War was over. Juneteenth started as a mostly Texas celebration, but it has expanded over the years into a holiday commemorated by African-Americans all over the country. Now, with new prominence granted to it by virtue of the ongoing protests against police brutality and for racial justice, Juneteenth is being rapidly adopted as an official public holiday by many states and municipalities across the nation.

It does seem that the issues of racial justice and the oppression of African-Americans have breached a critical level in society-wide discourse, tipping over to become a topic that cannot be waved away or ignored any more. Protests have spread from Minneapolis and Atlanta to towns and cities big and small as well as countries overseas, and have drawn a more diverse coalition of protestors than has been seen in a long time. Some commentators compare current events to the height of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s.

In a time of turmoil, disruption, and change, our mission—to understand and improve our world through the study and discussion of vital societal issues—remains as urgent and important as ever.

As part of that mission, each year since 1913 the National Institute has presented Gold Medals for Distinguished Service to Humanity to extraordinary individuals who have made the highest contribution to the improvement of society. In honor of Juneteenth, I would like to draw your attention to several distinguished African-Americans (and a Ghanaian) we have honored over the years. Click each picture to learn more about the Honoree.