Hello, Franklin Township School Community!

Our district’s Juneteenth Lesson Design Team is proud to ask you to join us in celebrating the 156th Anniversary of Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery throughout the United States. Last year, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation (S19), which designates the third Friday in June as a State and public holiday, known as Juneteenth Day. Yesterday, the U.S. Congress approved Juneteenth as a federal holiday!

As you may know, our district’s Juneteenth Design Team has worked hard to prepare learning activities and materials for our students to help celebrate and raise awareness about this important historical moment and cultural celebration. This week our students will engage in various Juneteenth learning activities: In PreK and Kindergarten, students will engage in read alouds about age-appropriate civic engagement; in Grades 1-2, students will engage in learning activities that emphasize vocabulary, including interactive videos and learning reflection journaling; In Grades 3-5, students will participate in a virtual street fair, engaging in interactive lessons that include history, food, music, dancing, artwork, and a Juneteenth Jamboree! In Grades 6-12, students will learn more details about the historical moment of Juneteenth through musical theatre, middle school students’ spoken-word performances, a poster contest, and authentic Juneteenth meals, researched thoroughly by a Franklin teacher whose family members shared specific Juneteenth Celebration experiences from when they were younger. 

Two months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and on June 19th stood on the balcony of a building in downtown Galveston and read General Order No. 3 to the assembled crowd below. “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” Granger pronounced.

This was the first time that many learned of the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Lincoln had issued two and a half years before. Granger’s announcement in Galveston moved across Texas, creating jubilation wherever the state’s 250,000 enslaved people were found. A year later, a spontaneous holiday called Juneteenth — formed from the words June and nineteenth — began to be celebrated. The celebration of freedom spread across the former Confederacy and as African Americans moved north they carried this celebration of liberation with them.

Juneteenth Design Team

Ezinne Anyanwu, Pre-K Teacher

Ebony Blissett, 3rd Grade Math Teacher 

Dena Febus, FPS Pre-K Coach

Miriam Francis, 6th Grade ELA Teacher

Fawnya Gibson, 1st Grade Teacher

Hyatania Jones, Dean of Students

Janelle Lord, Literacy Coach

Daniel Loughran, Assistant Superintendent

Justin Miller, Supervisor

Gayle Nelson, In-School Support Instructor

Felicia Osley, 3rd Grade Literacy Teacher

Daryn Plummer, Vice Principal

Monica Smith, 7th Grade ELA Teacher

Nikkii Tatum, Vice Principal