URBANA — Children and adults marched through the streets of Urbana on Thursday to celebrate Juneteenth. The holiday marks the day in 1865 when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas were informed of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Well Experience, a nonprofit organization founded in 2019, hosted the parade. It provides counseling for Black families and offers full-day summer programming for children.
Stephanie Cockrell is the founder and executive director of the organization. She wanted to host a celebration including the children in the community and the Well Kids Summer Program to educate them about their ancestry.
“Our goal is to make sure that we do everything to teach them about their past, and also to remind them that you don’t just come from slavery. Slavery starts the past that their ancestors had in the United States of America,” she said. “But prior to that, they came from kings and queens.”
In the days leading up to the parade, Cockrell said the children in the program spent time making posters and learning about the history of the holiday. The children also learned freedom songs to sing at Crestview Park after the parade.
What began last year as a smaller sidewalk parade in the Sunnycrest Mall parking lot grew into a city-supported event, with community members asking to join and local businesses offering support, according to Cockrell.
“It has grown bigger than I anticipated. When you start something, you just start a flame. Before you know it, it’s a huge fire,” she said. “I’m very grateful.”
Millicent Abernathy, an Urbana resident, watched the parade with her daughter and niece. She said she is glad young people have an opportunity to learn about a topic she never did.
“This wasn’t something that was taught, right”, she said. “Black history has always been a little bit whitewashed, so this gives us an insight into our own people, into our own cultures and rituals that we’ve missed out on.”
Urbana resident Katryna Starks also attended the celebration. She said she was thankful for a space to gather with others and reflect on the meaning behind Juneteenth and see young people participate as well.
“It is wonderful that we can come out and have a community event, a parade celebrating freedom,” she said. “A day where people can get together, appreciate their families and appreciate what our ancestors went through.”
Cockrell said she is proud that the parade resonated with many and hopes to make it an annual tradition.
“This is going to become a staple in Urbana. It is going to be something everyone knows is happening every year and they will want to be a part of,” she said. “The Well Experience is happy to have brought that to this community.”