‘No doodle for Juneteenth?’: Twitter praises Georgia artist for creating doodle when Google didn’t
Google often uses its homepage to honor prominent figures and dates with doodles. But when the search engine site didn’t create an image for Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19, one artist took matters into his own hands.
» RELATED: When Google overlooked Juneteenth, Georgia artist filled in the blank
Davian Chester, a freelance illustrator and graphic designer in Columbus, recently shared his own version of Google Doodle to highlight Juneteenth, which commemorates the day the last slaves in Texas and more broadly the Confederate South were freed.
The artwork features black hands breaking free of shackles that form the word “Google.”
“I feel that [Juneteenth] is important to me because it is a part of my history as an African American. It upsets me that still to this day, more and more people aren't as informed as they should be about it, and the process to make that happen is too slow. Every bit counts,” the 26-year-old told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As of Thursday afternoon, his creation, which took about an hour to finish, had been liked more than 120,000 times across Instagram and Twitter. Many gushed about how much they loved it.
Artist Davian Chester noticed that Google didn't create a doodle to celebrate Juneteenth so he created one for them. Love it! #Juneteenth #Juneteenth #Juneteenth2019 #JuneteenthDay pic.twitter.com/hO7Va8y9rO
— Ugh It's Crystal (@CrichyDC) June 19, 2019
This is absolutely fantastic. Well done.
— Charlie Heaton (@earlyamhistory) June 19, 2019
This is SO GOOD pic.twitter.com/1R3GxlWFOp
— Kara D, MLIS (@KaraPaints) June 19, 2019
LOVE THIS
— IG: E.Vrooom (@EmilyVROOOM) June 19, 2019
Some even urged Google to hire Chester.
@Google HIRE HIM
— Traci Daniels (@Traci_Daniels) June 19, 2019
there's a position open.
— ashley ray (@arayyay) June 19, 2019
@Google hire him!
— chi (@MerieQween) June 20, 2019
You better get paid for this
— Cameron Morris (@cjm1113) June 19, 2019
» RELATED: 5 facts about Juneteenth, which marks the last day of slavery
Others condemned Google for not creating a Google Doodle for the occasion.
Thanks for noticing that! They will create a doodle for every obscure day of history, but not this significant day? That’s interesting and disappointing, tbh.
— Cecilia Martin (@CcPrincess20) June 19, 2019
Hey @Google, no doodle for Juneteenth?
— Charisse Gibson (@OkayCharisse) June 19, 2019
I just want to point out the fact that it’s Juneteenth and Google look like this... 😒 #staywoke #HappyJuneTeenth pic.twitter.com/N9Y2GtZzMS
— Ashli Nicole (@ashli708) June 19, 2019
Hey @Google heres your #Juneteenth doodle you forgot to make pic.twitter.com/RdziLWpqkF
— Nykki Shaw (@NykkiLand) June 19, 2019
And a few took time to explain the significance of the holiday, especially since many said they didn’t learn about it in school.
Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." This only applied to states that seceded from the US leaving slavery intact in border and Southern states under Northern control
— Jerami (@CodeAndLonely) June 20, 2019
They don't mention it in most US schools either.😒
— Jerami (@CodeAndLonely) June 19, 2019
Shameful, to say the least.
While Google didn’t dedicate its homepage to Juneteenth, Google Street View did release a virtual tour of a dozen former Virginia slave dwellings to recognize the holiday, according to its blog.
"By immersing ourselves in the places where enslaved communities once lived, we are confronted with a history that cannot be ignored," it wrote. "So to virtually preserve these living spaces and give people access to them, we created custom Street View imagery for tours of a dozen slave dwellings throughout Virginia, which date from the late 1700s to the mid 1800s."
Take a look at it here.
» RELATED: The black Georgia school teacher who turned out to be a Union spy

