Black Southern Organizers and Nonprofits Carry Forward the Promise of Juneteenth

More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the news of freedom finally reached enslaved Black people in Texas on June 19, 1865. While this history began in Texas, Juneteenth tells a larger story about the American South, making clear that liberation will never be achieved through declarations alone; rather, it must be continually built, nurtured, and expanded.

For generations, Black Southerners led the work of turning the promise of emancipation into reality. Organizing, mobilizing, and leading movements within one of the most hostile landscapes in the country, they developed the grounded, effective strategies for social change:

• Formerly enslaved farmers pooled their savings to purchase land, creating independent towns, schools, and churches.
• Communities organized cooperatives and alliances to build economic power and challenge the exploitative conditions of sharecropping.
• Neighbors raised money through churches and community networks to defend and expand political participation when laws were created to shut Black folks out.

Over a century later, the work to make freedom real continues on the same land where our ancestors laid the groundwork. The South remains the testing ground for who has access to safety, healthcare, education, and civic participation, and Black communities—especially Black disabled, queer, and trans folks—continue to face the greatest barriers to these basics rights. Black Southern organizers are dismantling those barriers, utilizing generations of wisdom to advance the promise of Juneteenth: a world where Black communities have the freedom, resources, and power to determine their own lives. At Borealis Philanthropy, we are honored to support the communities carrying forward this lineage and—while these groups represent just a glimpse of a large ecosystem—we are privileged to spotlight a few brilliant partners leading the way.

People’s Advocacy Institute

Across Mississippi, Black communities are often denied a meaningful voice in the decisions shaping their safety and futures. Through participatory budgeting campaigns, community safety initiatives, and voter engagement, People’s Advocacy Institute builds the civic power residents need to shift public policy and hold officials accountable.

SpiritHouse South

Grounded in the belief that true safety comes from communities taking care of their own, SpiritHouse South, a collective in Durham, North Carolina, is building systems of care that support Black communities, particularly Black queer, trans, and disabled people. Through mutual aid networks that provide emergency housing and food, alongside training in community-centered conflict resolution, they are creating pathways to healing, accountability, and belonging.

Read the full article about fulfilling the promise of Juneteenth at Borealis Philanthropy. Read the full article