On Juneteenth

Discuss the centrality of slavery and the idea of white supremacy to the development of Texas.

Throughout On Juneteenth, Gordon-Reed emphasizes historical narratives, particularly their mythical and/or partially fictionalized components, are more about serving people in the present than they are about accurately portraying past events. Provide some examples of this historical construction and discuss the purposes and people they serve and why.

Patriarchy provides a significant backdrop throughout Gordon-Reed’s discussion of race and racism. Explain the role of patriarchy in Gordon-Reed’s analysis and how it interacts with racism in the construction of historical narratives and the maintenance of a racial hierarchy.

School integration has been presented as an objective good in terms of racial progress in the United States, but Gordon-Reed explains the implications of integration, particularly for the Black community. Using examples from the book, explain the impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Black Americans.

In dominant historical narratives, Blackness is often presented as a monolith. Discuss what some of these monolithic representations are, what purposes they serve, and how the acknowledgement of varied Black experiences debunks myths about Black people and their role in the present-day United States.

Dominant historical narratives about the origins of the United States often convey the idea of Indigenous and European cooperation and intermixture. Using examples from the book, explain what purpose this idea serves and what more realistic analyses about Indigenous people in the past and present would indicate about the development of the United States.

Throughout the book, Gordon-Reed notes the contingent nature of history. Explain what it means for history to be contingent and how the inclusion of varied perspectives and experiences make this contingency more evident.

Gordon-Reed opens Chapter 6 by acknowledging the experience of double consciousness that Black Americans face, and she indicates that a similar experience exists for Black Texans. Discuss how and why double consciousness is an issue for Black Texans.