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The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadlphia Division (NSWCPD) African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) hosted the command’s Juneteenth Observance for a hybrid audience on June 14, 2023.
Juneteenth is the holiday commemorating Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger’s proclamation that enslaved people in Texas were officially free on June 19, 1865. President Joe Biden made the day a federal holiday when the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law in 2021.
The group forum, which intermingled a showing of Houston-based television station KHOU11’s documentary Juneteenth 1865-2022: The Pursuit of Economic Equality with discussions about African American history and the personal experiences of NSWCPD’s African American personnel, was open to people of all ethnic backgrounds.
NSWCPD Mechanical Engineer and AAERG Secretary Taylor Barnett served as the moderator for the discussion and the primary narrator for the observance’s presentation that accompanied the documentary.
“In doing Juneteenth, we wanted to have a visual medium that would hold people’s attention as opposed to having another speaker,” Barnett said. “I thought KHOU11’s video was very informative and it goes through an extensive timeline so we thought it would be a great foundation for the event and then use it as a jumping-off point to facilitate conversations.”
The previous installment of KHOU11’s Juneteenth documentary series entitled Juneteenth 1865-2021 was recognized with multiple prestigious accolades including the Gracie Awards from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation and two Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for News Documentary and Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
As Barnett mentioned, Juneteenth 1865-2022: The Pursuit of Economic Equality’s showing was a great jumping-off point for poignant conversations as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were a major topic of discussion.
Barnett attended Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore, Md., so the topic is near to her heart.
“I joined a [multi-cultural] sorority while I was at Morgan named “Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated (AKA) and that helped me do a lot of community service and hone in on my leadership skills. It was a very comfortable community because when you’re at an HBCU it feels like family,” Barnett said.
She continued, “I applied to four colleges, but Morgan State was the only HBCU I applied to, and as soon as I got there I thought, ‘These people really do care about you. I’m not a number in a hall of 400 people.’ You could have a more standard big college experience there if you wanted to, but I felt like they were very invested in your success at Morgan State.”
NSWCPD Acquisition Manager and former AAERG Chair Edward Carter echoed Barnett’s thoughts when he joined the discussion.
“I didn’t really appreciate it then, but at Howard [a HBCU in Washington D.C.], which is a relatively small school, I could name everyone in my class of mechanical engineers. It was a benefit because we would all study together,” Carter said
“It’s a tight-knit group. I got a lot of help from classmates and teachers and even administrators. The administrators and staff cared for you because they knew everyone,” he added. “Every year there would be someone that would need financial assistance just to graduate and the administrators would help them in any way they could. Knowing these people on a personal level is something that later I realized how special it was.”
Barnett also made sure to push back against harmful stereotypes that people may believe about HBCU students and the establishments as a whole.
“Something else that comes up when people speak about HBCUs compared to Primary White Institutions (PWIs) is the misconception that HBCUs aren’t competitive to get into, that they don’t prepare graduates for the workforce, or that they are just party schools, all of which are flat wrong,” she said.
The pursuit for economic equality lies in equal opportunities in all walks of life and equal access to a quality education is a key pillar in that goal. That is why NSWCPD Surface Ship Propeller ISEA and AAERG Vice Chair Keina Thorpe along with Barnett wanted to make HBCUs a key topic of the Juneteenth Observance.
“A lot of young kids see a stigma in graduating from HBCUs. They think they won’t be able to find a job or have any luck in the workforce,” Thorpe said. “Dismantling that type of thinking at a younger age allows kids to participate in early opportunities and engage with recruiters and mentors.”
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,800 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2023 14:22 |
| Story ID: | 448709 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 118 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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