Milford Library hosts History of Juneteenth via Zoom on June 22nd at 7 pm

Dr. Karima A. Robinson will discuss the history of Juneteenth, a holiday that marks the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas. The celebrations created to commemorate June 19^th, 1865 relating to the history of slavery in America, the close of the civil war, and the early reconstruction era. Dr. Robinson will address how Juneteenth has become a state holiday in Texas and explore current efforts to make it a national holiday.

Karima A. Robinson, PhD is a playwright, performer, theatre director, and educator. Dr. Robinson is currently developing a play about the life of anti-lynching advocate Ida B. Wells entitled, Colored People’s Day: Ida B. Wells at the Chicago World’s Fair. She also performs excerpts of her solo-performance piece about poet Phillis Wheatley entitled, Farewell to America: A Phillis Wheatley Story. Dr. Robinson has directed staged readings of her plays Outraged! and Ivory.

Dr. Robinson has led performance and black history workshops in New York and Connecticut. Her workshops promote creative expression, cultural literacy, and critical thinking skills. She has directed student-devised plays and taught Theatre History, Africana Studies, Performance Studies, and Playwriting at SUNY Purchase, Vassar College, and Northwestern University. She earned her Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Theatre and Drama with a concentration in Africana performance traditions from Northwestern University.

For registration information, please visit www.milfordlibrary.org