was not a place for the faint hearted to brave integration it was a little first grade girl who did it she got great grades she was great in school. she went on to be a ph.d. historian. she wrote the hemmings of monticello for which she won the pulitzer prize in history. she s a university professor at harvard. when you hear someone say a university professor, that is a big deal she is a pulitzer prize winner she is a texan and she is the author most recently of the book on juneteenth. joining us now, annett gordon reed i m really grateful you were able to join us tonight. thank you for inviting me i m happy to be here
gordon reed elementary school in texas. she is a texan and the author most recently on the book on juneteenth. joining us now is annette gordon reed. i m really grateful you re able to join us tonight. thank you so much. thank you for inviting me. i m glad to be here. let me ask you first, i feel like you ve done so much in your scholarship and in your writing to explain and sort of paint a portrait of juneteenth in texas and in texas history and texas communities. i want to t ask you how you fee we re doing as a country celebrating juneteenth as a federal holiday now for the second year. well, actually, i ve been quitect impressed by what i ve seen. my husband gives me litzings of events that are going on around the country, and we seem to be doing a good job keeping the basic spirit of k the holiday, the celebration, actually good food and so forth, but also paying attention to the reason,
that s what we ve done since 1865 is keep going in the case of a lot of recalcitrance, unnecessary and unfortunate recaltrance. the author most recently of on juneteenth, pulitzer prizewinningul historian. and as i said the namesake of annette gordon reed elementary school in texas. thank you for inviting me. i appreciate it. we ve got much more ahead tonight. do stay with us. do stay with us. d tonight. do stay with us.
the idea that this is settled as a matter of something where we all agree as a country that this is something we will celebrate and commemorate. there is a story i saw in the mississippi free press that in mississippi, state offices were open today a couple months ago, when mississippi celebrates the state holiday of confederate memorial day, they closed so state offices closed for confederate day but open for junteenth. it s not surprising but it is disheartening. you have to keep going in the face of all that that s what we ve done since 1865 keep going in the face of a lot of recalitrance. the offer most recently of on juneteenth, the name sake of annette gordon reed
it proved some ideas are more powerful, they can t be denied the promise of america is we are created equal in the image of god, and we deserve to be treated equally throughout our entire lives president biden speaking last week at the white house as juneteenth concert today is the federal holiday that honors the day the last enslaved african-americans in the u.s. learned they were free. 158 years ago today, soldiers from the union army rode into galv galveston, texas, and posted a written copy of the emancipation proclamation on the door of a local church joining us now, pulitzer prize winning historian and professor at harvard, annette gordon reid, the author of the award-winning book entitled on juneteenth. reverend al, you have the first question. yes thank you for being with us. one of the things that i think a