The recognition of Juneteenth as the official end of slavery in America, a day of independence for African Americans, and an important holiday to be celebrated across the US has come back into focus recently. Many states, companies, and people are recognizing it’s status as an important holiday. GIPHY aims to educate and celebrate by utilizing Juneteenth as a paid day of learning to take time to educate ourselves. We have made company-wide efforts to encourage our users, partners, artists and employees to educate themselves on American history, the history of this holiday, and what it means to so many Americans. Here are a few examples of how GIPHY is celebrating:
GIPHY x BLK.GIF (GIPHYs Black Employee Resource Group) has put together this resource to help encourage everyone to educate themselves (click to access links):
GIPHY x BLK.GIF and latinx.gif (GIPHYs Black and Latinx Employee Resource Groups)
Hosted a carribean dance party: From Soca to Salsa on Thursday June 17th where ERGs from various companies came together to celebrate Carribean heritage month.
The DJ was foreignerrrrr who was commissioned by GIPHY Arts to create a CLIP to include all GIPHY users in the celebration:
GIPHY Identity has written this story to help educate on the history of freedom and inequality in America. Observing Juneteenth
GIPHY x Into Action
Our partnership team works closely with our partners to create relevant content and have done so with Into Action for Juneteenth:
GIPHY partners with Into Action to create Juneteenth Clips
GIPHY x The Africa Center
GIPHY partners with the Africa Center
GIPHY Arts Commissions
To celebrate Juneteenth, GIPHY Arts commissioned two new sticker packs from artists Aurora Bellard and Simonair Yoho, of the interdisciplinary design studio, Kafi Kafi Co.
In her own words Aurora says, “As a black woman, Juneteenth is incredibly important to me; I wanted to convey the hope, celebration, and remembrance of this wonderful day through my GIFs. And allow people everywhere to add much love and color to their shared experiences on social media.”
You can find the rest of these GIFs and stickers by searching @auroradraws and @kafikafico on GIPHY!
We would also like to encourage you to support both artists by visiting their respective websites, where they both have prints, ceramics, apparel, and many other beautiful works available for purchase. Aurora can be found at https://aurorasgallery.com/ and Simonair’s studio, Kafi Kafi Co, can be found at https://www.kafikafi.com/.
In addition to Juneteenth, June also hosts Pride Month. Pride is another celebration of liberation, one that would not be possible without the Black community. Pride started as a riot in Greenwich Village, NYC in 1969, and Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender woman was among the first to fight back against unjust targeting of the LGBTQ+ community. It would be impossible to celebrate the liberation of the LGBTQ+ community without recognizing the importance of Juneteenth in America’s history. GIPHY will be taking June 18th, 2021 as a time to celebrate and educate ourselves on the history of liberation in America.
Resources:
13 Black Lgbtq+ Trailblazers Who Changed the World
Happy Juneteenth and Happy Pride! You can continue to follow GIPHY on Twitter and Instagram for the latest content, updates and more!
