Today saw a major change to its hosting pattern on Monday as Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker were all missing from their usual roles in the show's first and second hours. Instead, Craig Melvin, Kristen Welker and Dylan Dreyer stepped up to the main anchoring roles and were joined by Jacob Soboroff later for the second hour.
The major shakeup at the New York studio can be explained by the fact that this Monday was Juneteenth, the US's most recently created federal holiday which celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Opening the show on June 19, Craig began by welcoming viewers before quickly explaining: "We are so happy to have Kristen Welker in, with Savannah and Hoda off on this Juneteenth holiday."
It turned out Savannah, Hoda and Al had the morning off while some of their colleagues stepped up to host the show which featured segments to draw attention to the national holiday, which while annually celebrated by black Americans across the country for many years, was first officially observed in 2021. One of these segments included an emotional moment where Craig visited the new International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.
During his visit to the building – which will be opening to the public on June 24 after a grand opening worship service on June 22 – the 44-year-old news anchor visited its center for family history and was helped by a resident genealogist to trace his own family's story.
While talking to his co-hosts live in the studio, Craig got to open up more about what it meant to him to find out more about his history. "What was that moment like, when you saw the name of the family that owned your family?" Kristen asked.
"It was moving to say the least," he replied, adding: "Through oral history in our family we suspected that we had come in around Charleston, but to actually see the name, you know, it stays with you." The Today host then continued: "What's interesting is that genealogist and my mother – they've become besties, because my mom really wants to find out a bit more about our family history."
At the commencement of Today's third hour, there was another surprise as Craig was joined by Sheinelle Jones and Al Roker – despite the fact as he himself admitted, he was meant to be off work that day. Still, Al's enthusiasm to come in to help host the show was quickly explained as he began the third hour with his own speech about the significance of Juneteenth.
"We are observing it today, [and it] dates back to over 150 years ago in our country's history," Al began. "President Lincoln, of course, signing the emancipation proclamation in 1863, but a lot of African Americans remained enslaved in confederate states until years after."
As Sheinelle then continued, the issue was with communicating the news of the signing of the proclamation across the entirety of the US. Al then finished the show's potted history of the day by explaining the final piece of the puzzle, which is that it was on June 19, 1865 that enslaved people in Texas finally received their freedom – a date which they (and later larger parts of the nation) made sure to celebrate each year after.