A message from Andrew L. Ross, President and CEO, The Children’s Guild Alliance:
Today we commemorate Juneteenth, the day that slavery ended in the U.S. on June 19, 1865. As we paused to reflect on racial injustice and inequalities, Juneteenth reminds us there are many events and contributions by African Americans that were never taught in school.
In order to respond to this meme that has been as much a part of The Children’s Guild Alliance, as it has been part of our society, our educators, under the leadership of Kathy Lane, Chief of Educational Services, will be reviewing our curriculum to look for areas in which we need to add the “real complete” American History to it.
Over the summer, our instructional coaches will be attending a university course that teaches a comprehensive African American History. Our goal is to ensure our faculty have a complete set of the facts and embed them in our curriculum to make them available for our students this fall.
As an organization, this is one way we can make sure that the spirit and meaning of Juneteenth gets passed on to all children. There may be a long way to equality and justice, but it is important that we take this vital step, given it is readily in our power to do.