The Juneteenth Project

Our heroes are all around us.

🎧 Building a #JuneteenthProject playlist. Starting with Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Marching Song of the First Arkansas”: youtu.be/jKss9jF2Yxw?...

What songs would you add? Spirituals, protest anthems, hip hop, jazz—drop your picks.

#FreedomForward #USCT

Their cause is our cause.

The Constitution is not a suicide pact—but neither is it a shield for cowardice. This piece threads the needle between passive legality and active responsibility, and it’s a conversation more Americans need to have before the choice is made for us.

Constitutional betrayal, not just crime, is the grounds for impeachment. Glad to see someone getting the frame right.

The Juneteenth Project - Events Upcoming Events

Our Events page is now live. You don't need a parade permit or a microphone. Find a Civil War monument or veteran’s grave to observe Juneteenth. Lay flowers. Bring a friend. Talk about America.

Need help finding a site in your area? We’re here.

sites.google.com/view/the-jun...

Freedom forward.

One simple word — NO — has moved mountains before. What’s something you’re ready to say NO to right now? 👊 #PowerInNumbers

Pritzker Thunders Against ‘Do Nothing’ Democrats as He Stokes 2028 Talk (Gift Article) In a fiery speech in New Hampshire, the Illinois governor railed against both President Trump and what he called the “simpering timidity” among some Democrats.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/u...

It continues today.

Gov. JB Pritzker:

“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now.”

The Land of Lincoln still has work to do.
And once again, it starts with US.

(🧵/end)

From a log cabin in Kentucky, to a night sky over Grant Park, to the streets today.

The Great Emancipator and the first Black President came from state willing to believe America could be better.

The work goes on.
(🧵)

Chicago.

The train north from New Orleans and through Mississippi brought refugees from Jim Crow to the City of Big Shoulders.

Freedom isn’t theory here. It’s action.
(🧵)

You’ve seen them. Waiting at a red light.
Rushing past on the highway.

Illinois.
Land of Lincoln.

It’s easy to forget what that really means.
Freedom Day was earned through great sacrifice.
It's a legacy of honor, duty, and courage.

And today, from Illinois, the fight is rising again.
(🧵)

Say what?

Values. That's the word.

We have an idea.

Equal protection is worth fighting for.

Organize.

On, Wisconsin!

bsky.app/profile/june...

bsky.app/profile/june...

We don't believe they have either.

So follow along.

📜 USCT stories
📸 Public memory
🗣️ Reflections on democracy, duty & the Republic
🗓️ Inspiration for what Juneteenth can still mean

The work isn’t done. And neither are we.

#JuneteenthProject #AbolitionDemocracy #USCT #PublicHistory #MemoryWork

And we’re not alone.

Across the country, more people are remembering differently. Hosting local events. Telling forgotten stories. Reconnecting patriotism with justice.

Juneteenth isn’t just a holiday. It’s a reckoning—and a promise.

We organize small gatherings. We tend to neglected plots. We share names, stories, images, and hopes.

Some of us are teachers. Some veterans. Some artists. Some just trying to raise our kids right. But we believe the past still speaks—if we’re willing to listen.

That’s the heart of the Juneteenth Project.

We honor Black Civil War veterans and the values they carried into battle: liberty, equality, and democratic purpose.

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s memory as commitment.

That search led to other graves. Other stories. And a deeper question:

What do we owe the men who fought for a Republic that barely recognized them?

What do we owe the idea they believed in—that this country could be just, free, and true?

His headstone stands in Elm Grove Cemetery in Rhode Island. Nothing flashy. Just a name, a rank, a unit. Company F, 23rd USCT.

But standing there—reading it—was like hearing a drumbeat from the past. The words were quiet. The message wasn’t.

It started with a name: Jim Chase.

He escaped from the tobacco plantation where he was born, and took up arms to free his fellows. Jim was at the Crater and he was there when Lee surrendered to Grant. After the war he ran a business, raised a family and was buried beneath the American flag.

We’re the Juneteenth Project.

A civic memory effort grounded in history, public ritual, and the unfinished work of democracy.

This is what we’re building—and why it matters. 🧵