Chesapeake Education Association

Happy Juneteenth ❤️🖤💛💚

Happy ! Today, we honor the end of slavery in the United States and celebrate the resilience, history, and contributions of Black Americans.

Explore the history and significance of Juneteenth, plus classroom-ready resources to help students learn, reflect, and engage ⬇️
https://vea.link/ThO

The first Africans at Jamestown were forcibly brought here by English privateers in August of 1619. Sold to prominent men at Jamestown, including Governor Sir George Yeardley, Abraham Peirsey, and, likely, Captain William Pierce, they represented the beginning of the system of enslavement in the United States.

More than 240 years after this pivotal event, Jamestown Island became a haven for freedom-seeking enslaved men and women from the surrounding area when the Union Army occupied Fort Pocahontas in May 1862. Enslaved African Americans in the region risked their lives to obtain freedom on the same island where the enslavement of their African ancestors began.

This Juneteenth, we recognize and honor the role the first Africans and their descendants played at Jamestown and in our nation’s creation.

Learn more:
💻 Read about the First Africans at Jamestown - historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-africans/
💻 Explore the Civil War-era history of Jamestown - historicjamestowne.org/jamestown-in-the-civil-war/
💻 Learn about the Jamestown 1862 initiative to learn more about freedom-seekers at Jamestown - historicjamestowne.org/jamestown-1862
📕 More reading: historicjamestowne.org/product-category/books/african-history/page/1/

📸 The ruins of Ambler Mansion in New Town (near the Angela Site on NPS property). Ambler was torched by formerly enslaved people who briefly occupied it during the Civil War. The Ambler mansion had been used as an overseer’s house just before the Civil War, so the burning was likely as much symbolic as it was tactical.

Do you have an eye for color? Do you enjoy being creative and have a knack for communication?

Join the Public Relations Committee today! We'll be working to overhaul our web presence and keep members better informed.

CEA Communications Committee Revival We're looking to revamp CEA's web presence! If you have a hand for website creation, picture taking or graphic design, share your information below!

As fear and uncertainty grow in immigrant communities, educators and school staff are supporting students while navigating these challenges themselves. Join us for a one-hour virtual workshop to connect with colleagues, learn about immigrant rights in schools, and gain practical resources to help keep our schools safe, welcoming places for every student.

Open to members and non-members.
Register at https://forms.veanea.net/view.php?id=1549056

RED SHIRT ALERT: Proposed healthcare insurance premiums could WIPE OUT our raise on some plans! Join us Monday, June 8, at 6:00 PM at the School Administration Building (1421 Kristina Way, Chesapeake, VA 23320) to tell the School Board now is NOT the time to increase healthcare costs!

Organize! Organize! Organize! Spots are filling up fast for VEA's 2026 Summer Organizing Institute, July 14-16, in Richmond. Learn new strategies and tools to grow membership and strengthen educator voices! Register here ⬇️
https://vea.link/soi2026

Tell Abigail Spanberger: we won’t forget your promise to give us a seat at the table! Comment your photo to join the raffle!

If you’re not able to make it to Richmond, make sure you wear your on Thursday! Share a picture with us to be entered in a $50 Wawa gift card raffle!

If you're upset about Governor Spanberger's veto of the historic collective bargaining legislation, you're not alone. Now is the time to show up and speak out about this betrayal.

Join us in solidarity at 4 p.m. on Thursday May 21 in Richmond to march for workers' rights. This event is being organized alongside our union partners in the Virginia Public Sector Labor Coalition.

We will not be silent in the face of union busting.

Show your solidarity! Join us at 1111 E Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219 on May 21 at 4pm.

You can RSVP here:

https://www.mobilize.us/seiu-virginia/event/954834/