June marks the observance of Juneteenth as well as Pride Month, and the med center has activitiesplanned for both celebrations.
Juneteenth
The med center will celebrate Juneteenth this year with an expo tied to the popular annual Gospel Fest.
The event will take place on June 17 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with Gospel Fest beginning at 11 a.m. and lasting 90 minutes. This year, Gospel Fest will feature singing, dancing and spoken word performances. The expo, which will feature demos from local community organizations such as Omaha’s A Step Above, will begin at 12:30 p.m. and run until 2 p.m. at the ice rink on the Ruth and Bill Scott Student Plaza.
Information booths will be set up at the expo, featuring community programs such the Empowerment Network, as well as campus programs, groups and departments.
The event also will feature local food trucks Jille Dawgs and New Orleans Sneaux.
Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that all enslaved people in the United States of America were free. It was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, and it is now a floating holiday at the University of Nebraska.
UNMC Human Resources will team with other campus entities, including the COM DEI office, UNMC College of Nursing, the Office of Inclusion and African American/Black Alliance, among others, for the event.
In addition to Gospel Fest, there will be food trucks and trivia posted throughout the week on both campuses, and a diversity celebration T-Shirt available for purchase at the UNMC Bookstore and Nebraska Medicine Company Store later this month. See UNMC Today for more information.
Pride Month
Each year, the UNMC and Nebraska Medicine LGBTQ+ Employee Alliance participates in the Pride parade and festival organized by Heartland Pride in Omaha.
The alliance welcomes the campus community to march in solidarity with their LGBTQ+ colleagues. All staff, students and their loved ones are welcome to march with the alliance during the parade and wear the UNMC-NM Pride T-shirt. The Nebraska Medicine Company Store will have Pride T-shirts available on an ongoing basis for purchase online or in person. The UNMC Bookstore will have surplus shirts available for purchase in the near future.
The Pride Parade will be held on July 16, starting at 10 a.m. in Omaha’s Old Market. Anyone wishing to walk with the Nebraska Medicine/UNMC group can park and meet at 9 a.m. at the Nebraska Medicine Old Market Family Health Clinic on 13th and Leavenworth streets. The clinic will be hosting a pre-parade patio party in their outdoor space on 13th and Leavenworth. The group can then walk together to the parade line-up location.
In addition, the UNMC community is invited to a University of Nebraska at Omaha Criss Library event.
"On the Inside" is a group show of LGBTQ+ artists who are currently incarcerated. The exhibit has connections to Humanities Nebraska and Black and Pink. Steve Langan, PhD, and Peggy Jones will speak at a Zoom discussion of the show on June 13 at 1 p.m.
In addition, there will be:
- On the Inside Curator Talk: July 12, 1 p.m., via Zoom; Tatiana von Furstenberg, project creator, and Eline Mul, exhibit designer.
- On the Inside reception: July 14, 4-6 p.m., Osborne Family Gallery, Criss Library