On Saturday, June 20, 2026, the Morris County Human Relations Commission (MCHRC) celebrated Juneteenth at County College of Morris. It was a pleasure, once again, to join with other like-minded event partners to celebrate this significant historic event. On June 19, 1865, two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing almost three million African Americans across America, Texas residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished.
The highlight of the evening was the screening of Becoming Thurgood, the compelling story of a man who spent a lifetime fighting for civil rights and ultimately was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the first African American justice to serve on the nation's highest court. The film included the historic part he played in the decision Brown v. Board of Education in May of 1954, the case that declared the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional.
The event was coordinated by Clifford D. Dawkins, Esq., the Assistant Dean & Director of the Minority Student Program (MSP) at Rutgers Law School. The MSP is part of the Law School’s ongoing commitment to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the Law School and in the legal community.
Photo (L-R) Meyer Rosenthal, Sue Rosenthal, Susan J. Waldman and Dr. Ed Yaw.