From Juneteenth to July 4th: 16 Days of What It Means To Be An American
This past week, an act of Congress finally made Juneteenth, the day celebrating the end of slavery, a federal holiday. Some who voted against the holiday claimed it would worsen ongoing divisions in our country. However, we at Do What Matters see Juneteenth as a celebration of the ongoing fight for freedom and inclusion in a country where we constantly need reminding of what it really means to be an American. In this way, Juneteenth is a perfect bookend to July 4th.
From Juneteenth to July 4th: A 16-day Celebration of What It Means To Be An American invokes the spirit of what unites this country — the ongoing fight to hold our country accountable for the ideals that inspired the oldest ongoing and most successful democracy in the world.
Our company, Do What Matters, an inclusion management consultancy, shamelessly took this idea from one of our great clients Periscope, and an advertising agency in Minneapolis, and ran with it. We wanted to bring this idea to life by offering the world a curated list of content that we hope will illuminate and educate everyone about the diverse communities that continually pressure test our country’s commitment to our democratic ideals and remind us that our commitment to these ideals are what makes us E Pluribus Unum, one from many.
So each day of this 16-day celebration, we will curate just a bit of cultural content that explains, exemplifies or expounds on what it means to be an American, content that truly celebrates our country’s ongoing promise of liberty and justice for all. Enjoy!
June 19th: Get the 411 on Juneteenth with ‘Blackish’
In this episode of ‘Blackish,’ Dre Johnson asks, “As much as I love the Fourth of July, shouldn’t the real Independence Day be the day that everybody was free?” An 1865 version of the Johnson family celebrates June 19th, the day slaves were told they were freed in the U.S. The family sings about the liberties they are excited to exercise. This episode of ‘Blackish’ is what television does when it is at its best. With entertaining bits inspired by ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ and the musical ‘Hamilton,’ this episode of ‘Blackish’ educates and illuminates the audience on the topic of Juneteenth as a significant historic marker for freedom for all Americans.
June 20: Discover How African-American Freedom Riders Pressure Tested America’s Commitment to Freedom
A powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives — and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment — for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws in order to test and challenge a segregated interstate travel system, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
June 21: A American Contradiction: Japanese Internment Experience During WWII
Filmmaker Vanessa Yuille journeys to her mother’s birthplace, Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated in a concentration camp during WWII. Internees reflect upon the experience of leaving their homes as children and the wartime hysteria that stripped them of their lawful rights. This dark chapter of American history not only contrasts with the natural beauty of the landscape but also calls into question the definition of what it means to be an American. Through her investigation, Vanessa challenges us to correctly define the true nature of what happened in this illegal place.
June 22: See How American Women Took the Vote from Those Who Would Not Give It to Them.
The Vote, a new four-hour, two-part documentary series, tells the dramatic story of the epic — and surprisingly unfamiliar — crusade waged by American women for the right to vote. Focusing primarily on the movement’s militant and momentous final decade, the film charts American women’s determined march to the ballot box, and illuminates the myriad social, political and cultural obstacles that stood in their path. The Vote delves deeply into the animating controversies that divided the nation in the early 20th century — gender, race, state’s rights, and political power — and offers an absorbing lesson in the delicate, often fractious dynamics of social change.
June 23: Explore the Story of the Equal Rights Movement
‘Mrs America’ tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.” Through the eyes of the women of the era — both Schlafly and second-wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus — the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the ’70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted the political landscape.
June 24: From from 20 to 3,000 Strikers in 3 Weeks
The Atlanta Washerwoman’s Strike. With the official end of slavery less than two decades before, thousands of black laundresses went on strike for higher wages, respect for their work and control over how their work was organized. In summer 1881, the laundresses took on Atlanta’s business and political establishment and gained so much support they threatened to call a general strike, which would have shut the city down.
June 25: A Setback for Miners’ Rights Resulted in the Eventual Passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act
The Battle of Matewan (also known as the Matewan massacre) was a shootout in the town of Matewan in Mingo County and the Pocahontas Coalfield mining district, in southern West Virginia. It occurred on May 19, 1920 between local coal miners and the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency. This event was a battle for miners’ rights and concluded with ten dead (including the mayor at the time, Cable Testerman) and was a success for the Baldwin-Felts Detective agency. Whoever shot first is still unknown and is up for debate to this day. Read more. Watch the movie Matewan
June 26: Harvey Milk fights the system as he makes history as California’s first openly gay elected official.
‘Milk’ tells Harvey Milk’s story as one of a transformed life, a victory for individual freedom over state persecution, and a political and social cause. There is a remarkable shot near the end, showing a candlelight march reaching as far as the eyes can see. This is actual footage. It is emotionally devastating. And it comes as the result of one man’s decisions in life.
June 27: Path to the Voting Rights Act
Selma is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic struggle to secure voting rights for African-Americans — a dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated in the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama that galvanized American public opinion and persuaded President Johnson to introduce the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
June 28: Stonewall Uprising
In the middle of a hot June night in 1969, a group of police officers entered the bar, turned the lights off and demanded identification. As people gathered outside on Christopher Street, the crowd, fed up with police mistreatment, took a stand and fought back. The police never expected it, and there was no going back. “We discovered a power we weren’t even aware we had,” says one man who protested. That uprising is now credited with launching the first ever gay pride parade in New York, and generations of social progress. It’s poignant now to revisit this event, when a minority community fought back against police abuse. In retrospect, we view this violent night as a catalyst for social change.
Also, watch Stonewall (Released 2015), about a young man’s political awakening and coming of age during the days and weeks leading up to the Stonewall Riots.
June 29: Women in the Military
In 2013, women achieved full status in the military when they were granted the right to serve in direct ground combat roles. That milestone then raised the issue of whether women should, like men, be required to register for the draft. In February 2019, a U.S. District judge ruled that requiring all men to register for a military draft, while excluding women, is unconstitutional. Read the whole history.
June 30: Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA states that a “covered entity” shall not discriminate against “a qualified individual with a disability”. This applies to job application procedures, hiring, advancement and discharge of employees, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. “Covered entities” include employers with 15 or more employees, as well as employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees.There are strict limitations on when a covered entity can ask job applicants or employees disability-related questions or require them to undergo medical examination, and all medical information must be kept confidential. The official website. Watch the movie, inspired by this story: The Music Within.
July 1: Transgender Rights in the ’80s and ‘90s
Pose season 1 is set in 1987–88 and looks at “the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York”: the African-American and Latino ball culture world, the downtown social and literary scene, and the rise of the yuppie Trump milieu.[1]
The second season begins in 1990. More of the characters are now either HIV-positive or living with AIDS. Some have become AIDS activists with ACT UP, and everyone is now attending frequent fundraisers, funerals and memorial services for their many friends and lovers in the community that has been hard-hit by the AIDS pandemic.
July 2: The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a long one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long fight for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront. Read the full story of this journey.
July 3: Founding Ideals and Founding Fathers
Our highlighting 1776 (Released in 1972) proves that inclusion is not a zero-sum game and we want to make sure we celebrate the story of the white European men who put their ideas, signatures and lives on the line to create the Declaration of Independence. Plus, Do What Matters loves a good musical and there are a lot of fun tunes in this movie. More importantly, it’s our commitment to the ideals set forth by the Declaration of Independence and celebrated in this movie that inspired us to create this event.
Hamilton (Released in 2020) Of course we had to put this on our list as well. After spending the day out in the heat, cool off with this cool musical starring Lin Manuel Miranda who wrote and produced this creative interpretation of Ron Chernow’s amazing book Alexander Hamilton.
July 4: John Adams (American) Family Values
John Adams (Released in 2008) Adapted from David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, this lavish seven-part miniseries chronicles the life of Founding Father John Adams, starting with the Boston Massacre of 1770 through his years as an ambassador in Europe, then his terms as vice president and president of the United States, up to his death on July 4, 1826. We love this film and Paul Giamatti is brilliant as the curmudgeonly John Adams as he navigates the dawn of this new nation.
