On Saturday, June 21, the Temple University Black Alumni Alliance (TUBAA) partnered with Temple’s Center for Anti-Racism to host its annual Family Field Day at the Aramark STAR (Student Training and Recreation) Complex. 

Friends, family, alumni and neighbors gathered at the STAR Complex for a day of community and fun featuring games and activities, tunes spun by DJ Ansharaye, lunch, and a speech from Timothy Welbeck, director of the Center for Anti-Racism, about the significance of the Juneteenth holiday. 

TUBAA organizes the annual event as a fun way to connect with alumni and their families. 

“We try to get alumni and their families back on campus as much as we can,” said Marilyn Lamore, CPH ’02, president of TUBAA. “It’s a way of connecting with everyone and just having fun.” 

This year, the timing of the event coincided with Juneteenth, so Lamore and TUBAA board members reached out to Welbeck to invite the Center for Anti-Racism to partner with them for the event. 

“Juneteenth aligns with the overall mission and vision of what the Center for Anti-Racism does, and beyond that, an event like this is part of the work that we do as it relates to community engagement,” said Welbeck, who has served as the inaugural director of the center since its opening in 2022. “This is a perfect opportunity to engage not only our alumni and their beautiful families, but also the community at large. We’ve opened this up to anybody, everyone in the area, and so it’s a great way to teach about an important holiday, the values behind it and also just have a good time.” 

Just before lunch, Welbeck spoke to the crowd about the history of Juneteenth and its 1865 origin when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.  

He then emphasized the importance of celebrating the holiday in 2025. 

“In a time like this it’s really important to celebrate Juneteenth, because there are still fights for equality,” Welbeck said. “People often ask me, how do we celebrate Juneteenth in a time where people are saying that we’re no longer going to have diversity, equity and inclusion, or we’re going to ban books, or we’re going to mistreat immigrants and send them to places they may not even live anymore without due process? And my answer to that is, we celebrate Juneteenth the same way the people in southeast Texas did 166 years ago. 

“We celebrate the idea that those who were once enslaved are now free, and then acknowledge the fact that no one is free until everyone is free,” Welbeck added. 

In addition to his role as director of the Center for Anti-Racism, Welbeck is a civil rights attorney and a scholar of law, race and cultural studies. He recently contributed a piece for The Conversation about Juneteenth and how to celebrate it. 

TV crews from NBC10 were on hand to capture the event, and Lamore says TUBAA plans on partnering with Welbeck and the Center for Anti-Racism for future occurrences of the Family Field Day.