Champaign, Danville and Urbana to mark Juneteenth by celebrating Black freedom and families

Juneteenth marks the arrival of U.S. Army troops in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. The troops told some of the last enslaved Americans that they were free. They were enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation, in which President Abraham Lincoln decreed some enslaved people to be free on January 1, 1863. (NPR)

Many central Illinois communities will commemorate Juneteenth. Below is a partial list:

We talked with Carla Boyd, Human Rights and Equity Officer in Urbana and Tom Unzicker, Human Rights Specialist in Urbana about the events there.

[00:00:00]
Reginald Hardwick: [Champaign's] Douglass Park will hold a concert on Friday, June 19th from 6 to 8 p.m. Performances will include hip hop, jazz, funk, and more. Also, the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail will host a guided Juneteenth walk, visiting markers, gathering places and homes that document the African American story in Champaign County. In Danville, the first Miss Juneteenth pageant will be held at the Laura Lee Fellowship House Friday, June 19th between 6 and 9 p.m. The fun continues at Lincoln Park on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a barbecue cook-off starting at noon. And Urbana starts its Juneteenth celebrations on June 13th. Carla Boyd, human rights and equity officer, and Tom Unzicker, human rights specialist with the city of Urbana, join me in studio. Welcome to Illinois Soul and Dialogue. First of all, what is, take me through some of the events, um, starting with the 13th. 

Tom Unzicker: Well, we know about the 13th because that's a regular happening in the area. The [Champaign] Douglass Library and Champaign Park District have their annual Juneteenth Emancipation Day celebration, uh, Saturday the 13th, starting at noon and going until 3 p.m. at Douglas Park. Lots of events over there, uh, along with food trucks and activities. Uh, plenty of information for people to gather and really have a wonderful time that day. Um, when I saw that event the first time I was, uh, new to the area, um, I thought this is more that we'd like to be doing in, in the entire community. Right?

Reginald Hardwick: And then what's happening on the 16th, Tuesday? 

Tom Unzicker: The 16th is the event that is happening at the City of Urbana City Hall in the council chambers, and we call it Reflection and Reverence. This will be the 3rd year in a row we've done it to this extent that, uh, nearly an hour that we're starting at 11 a.m. on the 16th, that Tuesday. It's a program to talk about the meaning of Juneteenth. We have a keynote speaker, Doctor. Uh, Dr. Bobby Smith, who is from the University of Illinois, he's going to be talking about, uh, the food story that is involved with Juneteenth and, and how the, uh, slaves had gotten through the, the difficulties to some extent at least with, um, working with each other about food behind the scenes. He's a, he's a wonderful speaker. We've heard him from other venues that he's been involved in. That'll be on the 16th starting at 11 o'clock. And in addition to that, we will have a flag raising that is going to be occurring right after his speech that'll happen right out in the front, which is to raise the Juneteenth flag, which is going to be flying at the Urbana City from the that date on the 16th until the end of the month. 

Reginald Hardwick: And the Juneteenth flag is the very multicolored one that has different points of it for people who are listening and may have seen it. Um, we have a picture of it at our website [illinoisoul.org]. What's happening on Wednesday, June 17th? 

Tom Unzicker: The 17th is an event that's going to be happening, uh, organized by the Urbana Park District and uh, the, the, uh, Urbana Free Library. They have an annual event that is going on in Prairie Park and that runs from 5:30 until 8:00 p.m. um, and that's another place where the proclamation is going to be read between, uh, those three entities including the city of Urbana, the, uh, park district, and the, the library to say this is their Juneteenth, uh, celebration, the commemoration.

Reginald Hardwick: And then what about on the actual day, Juneteenth, June 19th? 

Tom Unzicker: Well, um, that is going to be the annual Juneteenth parade. It's organized by The Well Experience. I was able to attend that parade last year. a great turnout even on a very hot day that year, and, um, it's really bringing the community together to celebrate right there on the street. It runs along, uh, several streets, but, um, Philo is one of the main streets that it's on, and that happens at 11 o'clock on Friday, Juneteenth.

Reginald Hardwick: Carla, let me ask you, what does it mean to have all of these different uh activities go on throughout uh Urbana throughout the whole week? 

Carla Boyd: I think it's important because each event, each venue is providing a different aspect of what Juneteenth means to, uh, people, the community, and just us personally, and so I think it's important for us and when Tom came on. Uh, early on, uh, with being the chair of this committee, he wanted to ensure that we were getting the word out on all the different activities because as he said when he was when he first got here in town, he went to a lot of the different activities and he said we need to be [ensuring] that people know about these things and so having all of these going on I think it's important because um we are two communities but you know so we want to make sure that what's going on that people in Champaign know what's going on in Urbana and what and people in Urbana know what's going on in Champaign. Um, like Tom, I had the opportunity to attend the, uh, Champaign Douglas library event and I was amazed at all of the events that, you know, all the different activities that were going on and just, you know, seeing the vibe there and it's like we need to ensure that, you know, people are supporting those events and so we want to do our part by, um, ensuring that everybody knows at least what we know.

Reginald Hardwick: What does Juneteenth mean to you? 

Carla Boyd: That's a hard one for me because um Learning about Juneteenth late in the game, um, it hurt, um, but now it it for me and even more so today it's we need to understand what our history is it means it to me it represents our liberation and that that liberation has to be fought for every day, um, because Juneteenth, even though you know the emancipation happened. Juneteenth is celebrated because for two years those people didn't know and so we have to be able to, you know, inform we need to to me it it reminds me of being informed um and and fighting for rights and make ensuring that you have you're equipped with the tools to be able to, you know, move forward in life and so it's a reminder for me and. A painful a reminder, but yet also one of hope is that even though you know things are put in place to try to deny that we can still overcome them, that there's always a way.

Reginald Hardwick: And you said late you learned late in the game. What does that mean? 

Carla Boyd: When Juneteenth was, um, first, uh, I think it was, um, President Biden in 2021, I didn't know that Juneteenth was a thing. I didn't understand what it was when we did it at the city. I was like, OK, yeah, I'm going to go to this, you know, event, and I'm, I'm like, what is this? And I'm like, wow. And it hurt because it's like, you know, I was today old when I found out and that it hurt.

Reginald Hardwick: Tom, what does Juneteenth mean to you?

Tom Unzicker: It was long after I had graduated from college where a coworker came to me who I was working with a schedule at the front desk of of the building I was working in, and she said, I'm trying to take off Juneteenth for next week, and I had to ask her what's Juneteenth, even though I'd seen it on a calendar before, I didn't know much about it, um. It was clear that this was something that had been overlooked in my education both personally and academically. And so as I found out more about it, and when I first got to Urbana and saw that we were having a small commemoration, I thought we could help make this a little more clear to people what it's about, help define the celebration since it's a new holiday and um So just the idea that people needed to have that freedom through much of the history of this country, uh, Carla mentioned that uh it was overlooked that sometimes it's been, um. And ignored or even buried and I just think it's really important as as somebody who grew up in this country to be able to talk about everything and anything so that we can move forward continuously and um As she mentioned, Carla mentioned also it's, it's painful to think about not only the history leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation, but even that interim before all the slaves were finally freed. and we know there was so much history that's happened since then that we're still having to make so much progress. We're still not as far as this country really dreams to be.

Reginald Hardwick: That was Tom Unzicker, human rights specialist, and Carla Boyd, human rights and equity officer with the city of Urbana, talking about the upcoming Juneteenth celebrations in the city. Thank you both for joining us in studio.