reinforcing [their] own experience of reality” (Cruise). The novella ends in the first annual Juneteenth Celebration. The historical romance anthology in which “Let It Shine” was featured in, The Brightest Day, was created in Celebration of the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2015. Juneteenth, in itself, is related to liberation, for it refers to June 19th, 1985, the day on which the remaining African American slaves, who resided in the city of Galveston, Texas, were freed. An end to slavery was a desire shared by countless enslaved African Americans, and Juneteenth is a reflection on the power of unfailing bravery in the face of one’s captors, the change that resistance can ensue, and the ability of the “human spirit…[to triumph] over the
