Juneteenth

Also known by such names as Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery after the end of the American Civil War.

source: amny.com

Juneteenth has grown to be a day that is observed in the US and around the world, as it symbolizes not only the fight against the evil that is slavery, but also the fight against racism in all its forms. Slavery finally came to end in the US in 1865, but racism lies at the heart of so many of the evils that still haunt the United States, Canada, and indeed, humanity. Current issues such as Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, are all just part of the ongoing and centuries old struggle against racism.

Find out more about Juneteenth:

source: mosaictemplars.com

Quiz: First Nations, Inuit and Metis

Try the Sporcle which asks you to identify famous people from Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities. Go here to try the quiz.

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada.

Iron Widow

The students of the school district have spoken. The 2023 Surrey Teens Read Book of the Year is: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao.

Thanks to all the students who read this year’s slate of Surrey Teens Read nominees and voted for their favourites. Thanks to all the Teacher-Librarians on the STR Committee whose efforts make Surrey Teens Read a success every year by offering up a wonderful selection of titles.

Find out more about Surrey Teens Read

Indigenous Peoples Collection

Come down to your School Library to check out our newly established Indigenous Peoples Collection. The collection features books written by indigenous writers. Here are just a few of the more recent titles that share an authentic indigenous voice.

Anne Frank

Anne Frank was born on this day in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her family moved to the Amsterdam in 1933, among the over 300,000 Jews who fled Germany between the rise of Hitler and the onset of WW2. Nevertheless, the Netherlands fell to the Nazis in 1940. Eventually Anne and her family went into hiding in 1942. While hiding in the “Secret Annex,” Anne would write what would become perhaps the most famous diary in history, published after the war as The Diary of a Young Girl. The Franks were betrayed, discovered, and arrested, in 1944. Anne and her sister perished in Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi death camp, in 1945. Most of her family ended up numbered among the more than 100,000 Dutch Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust, although her father survived. It was he who discovered Anne’s diary and was able to have it published so that many generations may be enriched by it.

Find out more:

Anne Frank The Writer

Anne Frank House

Anne Frank Fonds (Foundation)

Indigenous Peoples Collection

Come into the School Library to check out our newly established Indigenous Peoples Collection. This section of the School Library is devoted to titles from authentic indigenous writers.

All titles in the Indigenous Peoples Collection are designated with spine labels bearing the “IPC” prefix. Sublocations in the IPC include:

  • Coast Salish
  • Northwest Coast
  • First Nations
  • Inuit
  • Metis
  • Urban
  • Global
  • Own Voice
  • Truth and Reconciliation

and more…

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada.

NASA UFO Task Force: Watch LIVE

source: Smithsonian

NASA presents a live discussion of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force, at 7:30 PDT, on NASA TV. UAPs, are also known in popular culture as UFOs.

Watch it here: NASA TV

Information on this NASA initiative:

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

UAP Independent Study

UAP Frequently Asked Questions

Find out more:

NASA.gov

Space.com

Smithsonian Magazine

BBC

Scientific American

CBC

Boston University