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 UNMC College of Nursing, the College of Medicine DEL Office, 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 will be available for purchase at the UNMC Bookstore and Nebraska Medicine Company Store later this month.