Caregivers Celebrate Juneteenth With Performances and Fellowship

To commemorate Juneteenth, members of ChristianaCare’s Office of Inclusion & Diversity and the Growing Our African American Leaders Systemwide (GOALS) employee resource group hosted a Freedom Celebration on the Newark campus. The event opened with a beautiful rendition of the Black National Anthem, a song about Black resilience and perseverance, sung by Madison Perry, a Future of Health Scholar at ChristianaCare.

More than 100 caregivers participated in this special event to mark Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to ensure that all enslaved people be freed. This momentous event occurred more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end of slavery in the United States and is now recognized as the longest-running African American holiday.

“Even today, many Black Americans continue to face inequities, including disparities in health care and outcomes, and that is precisely why a day like Juneteenth matters, especially at ChristianaCare,” said Natalie Torres, director of Inclusion & Diversity at ChristianaCare, in a joint message with President & CEO Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH.

“Whether it’s building a diverse workforce, investing in the work to end disparities or finding new ways to increase access to care for everyone, we are working hard to create health in our community,” Torres said.

Speakers from ChristianaCare and community organizations joined the celebration to commemorate the history of this landmark day and Brittani Benn, a ChristianaCare community educator, closed out the ceremony with a moving dance performance.

Click here for more on ChristianaCare’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.