Juneteenth commemorated with NAACP and ice cream social
B.U.I.L.D. sponsored its first event by bringing Bioventus together to commemorate Juneteenth. 
The hour-long event was attended by more than 160 employees who were interested in learning about Juneteenth and wanted to share a cool treat with colleagues and peers. 
Vickie Terry, Executive Director of the NAACP Memphis Branch, gave a lively talk about the importance of Juneteenth. Participants discussed their experience with the holiday and how they commemorate the day. Immediately following the call, employees in Durham and Memphis had ice cream and continued to talk about Juneteenth. Click here to access the recording of the event. The passcode is YUW1Z%3C.
Also known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth is June 19th and marks the day in 1865 when Union Soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to spread the word that slavery had ended as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation that had been passed two and a half years earlier.
The Juneteenth National Independent Day Act was passed in 2021 and recognizes Juneteenth as a federal holiday in the United States. Opal Lee, a retired teacher and activist, worked for four decades to get Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday. In the past year, 95-year-old Lee has served as a speaker for numerous events, including at a general session at SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2021 last September in Las Vegas, and in May at Licensing Expo 2022, also in Las Vegas, where she spoke about leadership and social impact. 
B.U.I.L.D. is the Black and African Americans United in Leadership & Development Employee Resource Group (ERG) that is under the BIO+ umbrella. Since its inception, B.U.I.L.D. spearheaded the HBCU Internship program, paved the way for our corporate partnership with the NAACP, and distributed books written by Black authors to libraries and organizations in Raleigh (NC) and Memphis (TN). Click here to check out the LinkedIn post about our Juneteenth Commemoration.
If you are interested in joining B.U.I.L.D. or any of our ERGs, click here to apply to complete an application.
Source: Celebrating Juneteenth — and Fort Worth’s Opal Lee (pcma.org)