To commemorate the fifth anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal and state of Illinois holiday, a Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony will be held at Aurora University on Friday, June 19.
Organizers said the fourth annual Scheketa Hart-Burns Aurora Juneteenth Flag-Raising Ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the university, 1347 Prairie St. in Aurora.
The event will focus on education, empowerment and community celebration, organizers said in a press release. Raising the Juneteenth flag this year will be Mr. and Miss Black Aurora and members of the Aurora Black Heritage Royal Court, the release said.
The ceremony will feature a march highlighting more than 100 Black youth from middle school through college, a performance of the Black National Anthem by Chicago-based recording artist Nialand, the 40+ Double Dutch Club, a presentation of the Junior Trailblazer Award to elementary school entrepreneurs and owners of K-Kids Slushies and Waffle Pops, the awarding of $20,000 in scholarships to the Class of 2026 Cowherd Scholars and more, according to organizers.
The annual flag-raising ceremony is named in honor of Scheketa Hart-Burns, who made history in 1991 as the first Black person elected to the Aurora City Council. Hart-Burns served on the council for 32 years before she died in 2023.
The ceremony on Friday will be hosted by Aurora in Black, the Aurora African American Heritage Advisory Board and the Quad County Urban League.
Juneteenth – officially celebrated on June 19 – commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. While President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that the last enslaved African Americans were freed in Texas after the end of the Civil War.