Please Note: This is the members' registration section. If you are not an OLLI member, then please register for the "Non-Member" section.
Join us on Friday, June 12th, 2026 at UConn's Waterbury campus for OLLI's Juneteenth event starting at 6:00 PM. This event is free and open to everyone. This special event features award-winning journalist and author Elaine Weiss, who will deliver the keynote address based on her critically acclaimed book, Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement.
In Spell Freedom, Weiss tells the powerful, little-known story of the grassroots “citizenship schools” that taught Black Americans in the Jim Crow South to read, write, and meet restrictive literacy test requirements designed to prevent them from voting. The movement, led largely by Black women educators and community organizers, laid essential groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement and helped secure voting rights for tens of thousands of people.
This event will be held at the UConn Waterbury campus main building (99 East Main Street, Waterbury, CT 06702). Parking is available in the attached UConn Waterbury parking garage (55 North Elm Street) or the Scovill Street garage (33 Scovill Street). Please note that no payment is required to park in the attached UConn Waterbury garage after 5 PM, so event attendees won't need to purchase parking for this event unless they're parking somewhere other than the attached parking garage. If you purchased a spring parking permit, then you can use it to park in the Scovill Street garage. Please note that you will need to show the parking permit hangtag that UConn Parking Services mailed to you to the parking attendant if there is one working.
The event is free, but space is limited. Registration is required.
Come join us!
