By Hank Beckman
Minister Lynn Lacey, of the Second Baptist Church and co-founder of Lacey/Hill Community Outreach, was honored as winner of the Third Annual Juneteenth Award in La Grange June 19, an event sponsored by the east side residents, La Grange’s CommUNITY Diversity Group, the Sisters of St. Josephs and the Park District of La Grange.
Lacey’s church, which partners with the Greater Chicago Food Despository, provides service to the homeless, less fortunate and seniors.
“If I can help someone along the way, my life will not be in vain,” Lacey told about 125 people at the La Grange Community Center Monday night. Lacey also serves on the Village of La Grange Park Board.
This year marked the third year the east side residents organized the celebration, coinciding with the third year since Juneteenth was made a national federal holiday.
Lacey reminisced about growing up in La Grange in a much simpler time, adding that it was an era when people didn’t lock their doors at night.
“We had a group of people that cared,” she said. “We made sure everything was right.”
Lacey left no doubt that her faith and the east side community were responsible for her being honored.
“We’ve got to put God first,” she said. “We’ve got to pray about these things. When you put God first, he’ll make sure everything will come to you … that award, I have to give to the people of the community.”
Lacey ended by stressing that freedom was something that everyone needed, saying that each and everyone being free should be the benchmark for determining success.
Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, and one officially made a paid holiday in Illinois in 2021, celebrates the day in 1865 that Union Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston Texas with 2,000 troops and issued General Order No. 3., informing enslaved Texans of their freedom.
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Although President Abraham Lincoln officially freed all those held in slavery with the Jan. 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, the actual end of the “peculiar institution” didn’t happen all at once.
The actual freeing of enslaved people occurred at varying times throughout the territories where slavery existed, depending on how far the Union Army had advanced.
Texas, being in what was then the far southwest portion of the Union, was the last territory under federal command to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
While the original celebrations of Juneteenth took place in Galveston, the holiday spread over time until it became the eleventh federal holiday in 2021.
Texas Gov. James Allred declared June 19 “Emancipation Day” in 1938. In 1980, Texas also became the first state to make it an official, paid holiday.
During La Grange’s recognition of the holiday, businessperson and educator Dr. Bessie Emerson Boyd served as the event’s emcee.
She led the room in a prayer written by Dr. Maya Angelou, and, speaking as a 50-year resident of La Grange, she echoed Lacey’s comments about the close-knit east side community.
“The Community Center was a place where we came and enjoyed fellowship and company,” Boyd said. “This is a place where we had family, and we had love. We knew each other.”
Sister Mary Jo Curtsinger led the gathered in the Maya Angelou prayer. Janet Burton sang Mahalia Jackson’s “If I Can Help Somebody,” and Becky Lorentzen and Harold Gibson presented the award to Lacey. Rev. Al Banks. Jr., sang “Lift Every Voice.” Schoolchildren sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Village Trustee Rev. Shawana McGee and her husband Rev. Maurice McGee led the closing prayer.
Several representatives from the Village of La Grange were in attendance, including President Mark Kuchler, Trustees Beth Augustine and Glenn Thompson, Village Manager Jack Knight and Police Chief Kurt Bluder.
Kuchler alluded to the recent mass shooting during a Juneteenth celebration in a parking lot in Willowbrook, saying “we recognize that violence occurs … we have to get the guns out of the hands of children.”
Kuchler also echoed Lacey’s sentiments about inclusivity.
“No one is free until everyone is free,” he said. “We don’t say that enough.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.