BCC Partners with NAACP Berkshire County Branch on Mass Humanities–Funded Frederick
Douglass Community Reading
Public reading to take place at the NAACP – Berkshire County Branch Juneteenth Celebration
on Sunday, June 21 at noon at Durant Park, Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, MA — Communities across Massachusetts will take part in a growing cultural
phenomenon this year—gathering to read, reflect on, and discuss Frederick Douglass’s
1852 speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
Berkshire Community College (BCC) is pleased to announce it has received a $1,000
Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant from Mass Humanities with funding made possible
by the Mass Cultural Council to partner with the NAACP Berkshires Branch at this year’s
Juneteenth celebration.
These funds to BCC will support a free public reading of Douglass’s famed speech at
the Juneteenth community celebration taking place on Sunday, June 21 at noon at Durant
Park in Pittsfield, MA. This event is a part of the NAACP – Berkshire County Chapter
Juneteenth Celebration, which honors the emancipation of enslaved African Americans
and celebrates Black freedom, culture and community.
Partnering on the community reading builds on and strengthens the longstanding relationship
between the College and the Berkshire County NAACP. Each year, college stipends funded
through the NAACP Freedom Fund Awards in January are presented at the Juneteenth Celebration
to local high school graduates of color and from immigrant backgrounds, many of whom
go on to study at BCC. Expanding this collaboration through the reading and at Pittsfield’s
oldest Black community celebration, feels like a meaningful full-circle moment.
To learn more, visit NAACP – Berkshire County Chapter Juneteenth Celebration
.
The life and works of Frederick Douglass continue to shape our understanding of America.
A gifted orator and prescient writer, Douglass forces us to reckon with the legacy
of slavery and the promises of democracy.
Each year, Mass Humanities organizes and funds free public events where communities
gather to read and talk about Frederick Douglass’s influential address. Sixty communities
hosted readings in 2024.
Frederick Douglass asked this nation a question in 1852 that we are still answering.
On Juneteenth, there is no more fitting way to begin our celebration than by reading
those words together, as a community, across generations, in one voice. We thank Berkshire
Community College for bringing this Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant from
Mass Humanities to the Berkshires, and we invite everyone to join us on Sunday, June
21 as we begin that conversation together.
Dennis Powell, President, NAACP Berkshire County Branch
To learn more, visit the Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant program.
Organizations interested in learning about future grants should follow Mass Humanities
on social media @masshumanities and visit Mass Humanities
