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Happy Juneteenth! As I reflect on this day, a celebration of the liberation of the last enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas in 1865, I am mindful of a few things: Freedom does not arrive at once. The enslaved people in that city were the last to be set free, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect two years prior. The road to liberation is riddled with roadblocks, and though progress has been made, Black people have not all made it to the other side. There remains real work to be done, especially in the form of economic...

I’ve always been lucky when it comes to education, and feel an obligation to give back to the communities which have supported me. My parents have emphasized the importance of continued learning and reading since I can remember. I didn’t go to preschool, my mom kept me at home and taught me how to read in our homemade library. In first grade, I wrote my first book—and I’ve been hooked on words ever since. Fast forward to fifth grade; I attended KIPP: South Fulton Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. We were instructed to “assign ourselves” when we weren’t occupied with work....