America 250, Juneteenth & the Obama Presidential Center | Reframing Independence

🎙️ Episode 19

America 250: Juneteenth & the Obama Presidential Center | Reframing Independence

As America begins commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it's worth asking a deeper question:

What does independence mean—and who was included in it?

In this episode of Our Truth, Our History, Our Story, Rita Coburn reflects on America's founding through the lens of African American history. From the symbolism of Juneteenth and the delayed freedom of June 19, 1865, to the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Rita explores how our understanding of freedom continues to evolve.

Drawing on history, current events, and her own experiences attending the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Rita challenges listeners to think beyond celebration and toward responsibility. She reminds us that history belongs to all of us—and that preserving it requires action.

This episode is an invitation to celebrate America's progress while embracing the fuller truth of our shared history and our ongoing work toward equality.

🔍 What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Why America's 250th anniversary deserves a broader historical perspective
• The relationship between July 4, 1776, and Juneteenth
• Why the Declaration of Independence was adopted before the Revolutionary War was won
• The significance of June 19, 1865, and General Order No. 3
• Reflections from the opening of the Obama Presidential Center
• Michelle Obama's message of dignity, hope, and leadership
• Why history must continually be reframed as new voices are included
• The role of Black historians, journalists, and storytellers in preserving truth
• Why supporting institutions like the NAACP and the Obama Presidential Center matters
• How reading, learning, and civic engagement become acts of freedom

🧠 Key Themes

• America 250
• Declaration of Independence
• Juneteenth
• July 4th
• Obama Presidential Center
• Barack Obama
• Michelle Obama
• Black history
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• NAACP
• Civic engagement
• Historical truth
• Democracy
• Hope
• Freedom
• Belonging

💬 A Defining Idea from This Episode

"We can celebrate America's independence while also telling the fuller truth about who was—and wasn't—free."

Understanding history isn't about diminishing the past. It's about expanding our understanding of it so that everyone can see themselves in the American story.

🇺🇸 Join the Conversation

As America marks its 250th anniversary, how are you choosing to celebrate?

What does freedom mean to you today?

How has learning more about Black history changed your understanding of America's story?

Share your thoughts in the comments or on social media using #OurTHS. History becomes richer when more voices are part of the conversation.

📣 Resources / Links

Watch THS episode https://youtu.be/eu5WXFg87FA 

Learn more about the Obama Presidential Center
https://www.obama.org/presidential-center/

Learn more about the NAACP
https://naacp.org

Watch: Stacey Abrams, Errin Haines, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and others discuss July 4, 2026, as a Declaration of Belonging https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ8dVYOCVCD/

Read the Declaration of Independence
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Learn more about Juneteenth
https://nmaahc.si.edu

Watch W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/w-e-b-du-bois-documentary/34807/

Watch Our Truth, Our History, Our Story on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@ritacoburn9240

Listen to the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323/episodes

Transcript available here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323

Stay connected with Rita Coburn
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

Upcoming events and screenings
https://www.ritacoburn.com/upcoming-events

Download event photos
https://www.ritacoburn.com/event-photos

Social Media Toolkit
https://www.ritacoburn.com/social-media-tool-kit

📚 Suggested Reading

If this episode inspires you to explore America's history through a broader lens, here are a few books I recommend:

📚 The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story — Nikole Hannah-Jones

📚 The Souls of Black Folk — W.E.B. Du Bois

📚 Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul — Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

📚 Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own — Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

📚 The Battle for the Black Mind — Karida L. Brown

📚 The New Brownies' Book: A Love Letter to Black Families — Charly Palmer & Karida L. Brown

Your local library is one of the best places to begin. Reading broadly and supporting Black authors, historians, and journalists is one of the most meaningful ways we can preserve, deepen, and share our understanding of history.

🎬 About the Series

Our Truth, Our History, Our Story (Our THS) explores the people, ideas, and cultural forces shaping Black history and storytelling. Hosted by award-winning filmmaker Rita Coburn, the series features conversations and reflections that connect our past to the present while inspiring a deeper understanding of our shared humanity.

👥 Production Credits

Host: Rita Coburn

Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr

Producers: Christine Coburn Whack, H. Lee Whack

Produced by RCW Media Productions, Inc.

© 2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Our truth, our history, our story. As we imagine this 250th celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which took place on July 4, 1776, we need to know the truth about what that really means. That's what this holiday is all about. The war continued, but the Union declared independence. That part. Before the war is over, declare your independence. We are still in the middle of a cultural war in the United States. Our first lady, Michelle Obama, was recently disrespected. Then on June 18th, at the opening of the Obama Presidential Library, she took back her power in a powerful speech. Bruce Springsteen serenaded her. And for those of us who attended or watched, we felt hope and civility. Back to this 250th celebration. In part, we are celebrating 250 years of someone else's holiday, but we are taking it and making it our own. And this country by celebrating our own truth, the war is not over, but we are declaring victory. The truth is that we came to this country in 1619. And I love the symbolism that Juneteenth falls on the 19th. Almost a hundred years after this country said it was free, we were free-ish. Full nationwide enslavement was not achieved until Congress passed the 13th Amendment. And even then, as we know, since there was no internet, until General Gordon Granger gets to Galveston, Texas to read the order number three on June 19, 1865, announcing the freedom for enslaved people in Texas, we didn't know we were a little more free ish. I'm going to take my 250th celebration with some June 19th, 1865. And aside of the Obama Library celebration, reflect on how you will take yours. I'm more comfortable in this space. I'm more comfortable acknowledging a time when we decided that we were going to have an African American be president who ran on the idea of hope and change and built a multiracial group of people because that's the only way he was elected.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And that said something about change.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

And now we're in the same position where we need change. The question is, what are we going to do? But I think one of the big lessons of this 250 is that the Declaration of Independence was written and adopted before the war was won. And we have to believe that we can win and adopt a different attitude right now. And this harkens back to that attitude, the same one that we have to have, and we have to add to it as a multiracial group again, which we see in the protests and with all the different factions of this society finally coming together.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

That's the jolt. That's the jolt and the joy and the opportunity. And we have to stay inspired.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

As everybody looks to take a picture, it reminds us of a much more civil time in America. And I believe that the crowd here is extremely organized the way that people are going in. It's certainly a multiracial crowd. And I think that it's really important for us to remember this presidency and how Barack Obama came to Chicago and did a lot of his seminal work here and learned organizing here. Thank you, Barack and Michelle. Thank you for some wonderful years of civility. And thank you for this time. I would say fist bump and thank you very much for all of your service and what you did for women. Thank you. This is why history is so important. I'm not going to be able to unpack it all here. You have to read. But now instead of a privileged class writing history and telling you what you did or did not do, what did or did not happen, we have studied historians, black journalists, white journalists, and all kinds of woke people writing and discussing what is true for us. But one thing that is not true is that in 1776, most black people in what became the United States were not free, and even free black people were not equal citizens. Yet the country has belonged to us since the White Lion ship dropped off its human cargo at Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, in August of 1619, documenting the beginning of our journey in English North America, and that is when we began creating the wealth of this country so that it could obtain independence in 1776. That is the interlacing of our truth. Just as white Americans celebrate Juneteenth by taking a day off or doing whatever, even though they were not the ones being emancipated, and they should do that. Black Americans can celebrate 250 years of independence even though that freedom did not overtly include us in many ways. We are here now, free ish and declaring victory before the battle is won. I appreciate what Stacey Abrams, American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, Aaron Haynes, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and Editor at Large of the 19th, and Tressy Macmillan Cottham, New York Times, opinion columnist, sociologist, professor, and cultural critic, and others have done. They are declaring and framing July 4th, 2026 as a declaration of belonging for African American, Native Americans, and marginalized people. You'll see their clip in the link that I've shared. I've been rereading many of the authors featured in my documentary, W.E.B. Du Bois Rebel with a Cause. Their work challenges us to think differently, and often it is so beautifully written and deeply relevant to what's happening today. So, yes, celebrate the unveiling of the truth. Know that your history did not begin on July 4th, 1776. Know what Juneteenth represents. Know so that you can decide what your obligation is to your ancestors, to yourself, and to your children. Learn as much as possible. And at this time in history, people are fighting for truth against a backdrop of lies. History as a literal birthright that needs to be reframed and become a truer collection of fact and the story that we are willing to embrace, not just a romantic memory of a group of privileged people who are becoming the few. It is a different idea of how to imagine this time as saying black Americans belong in this country as full citizens. What can you do and what will you be doing? What brings us independence and what brings us freedom? One thing that I can think of that we have to do is support institutions that have supported us. One of the longest-running organizations in our community of African Americans is the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, W.E.B. Du Bois, and a group of wealthy white liberals and other black activists put this together in 1909. He became a co-founder and the only black person on the board. And it grew out of the fact that there was widespread racial violence lynching anequality that was intolerable. It was so intolerable. The date was chosen since it was the hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. As you support what you believe in, another way to express your freedom and your independence is to read. For much of our history, books were written by people who did not consider us. Black people were left out. Indigenous people were left out. And as this happened, we were often stereotyped so that you don't know, and there's no true picture of your uncle, your aunt, your children. Now we have real people. We don't have the stereotypes as much, and we have access to historians, scholars, journalists, and writers who can tell fuller stories. But we also have to find them. They are being taken away from mainstream media, but now we have an internet, now we have organizations where we can find these journalists and support them. Another place to invest in is the Obama Presidential Library. You can actually become a founding member with a small donation. You can have a continuing donation. When we heard Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Common, Stevie Wonder, and so many others, there was a sense of power. But the ongoing support will be the way that that center and other centers and the stores that you want to visit and the podcasters that you want to listen to, all of these black entities, some of them becoming open to everyone, but basically, this is how we can celebrate our freedom. I'm going to take my 250th celebration with some June 19th, 1865. And aside of the Obama Library celebration, I'm Rita Coburn with our truth, our history, and our story.