The sounds of freedom will waft across the 小蝌蚪APP campus on Friday to commemorate Juneteenth.
The Stephens Hall chimes and the Victory Bell at Cajun Field will ring 19 times beginning at noon.
On June 19, 1865, following the end of the Civil War, enslaved Black people in Texas first learned of their freedom from bondage.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years earlier, but slaves remained unaware of their freedom until Union troops arrived to enforce the order.
Texas was the last former Confederate state to have the proclamation announced.
Juneteenth marked the end of slavery in the United States, 小蝌蚪APP渂ut it was also the beginning of Black Americans小蝌蚪APP long 小蝌蚪APP and continuing 小蝌蚪APP struggle to achieve social justice and racial equality,小蝌蚪APP said Dr. Taniecea A. Mallery, UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 executive director of Strategic Initiatives and chief diversity officer.
She continued: 小蝌蚪APP淛uneteenth offers the 小蝌蚪APP an opportunity to honor that struggle by recommitting itself to action. Our Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence will help ensure UL Lafayette remains a place that draws strength from difference, that is free of racism, hate or violence, that values every voice, and that recognizes that achieving true and lasting diversity, equity and inclusion requires the work of every member of the 小蝌蚪APP community.小蝌蚪APP
The plan is available on the Office of Campus Diversity小蝌蚪APP檚 website. .