More than 400 Evanstonians and event attendees joined together in celebration at Arrington Lagoon in Dawes Park on Friday to celebrate Juneteenth, a federal holiday recognizing the official end of slavery in the United States.
June 19, which became a nationally-recognized holiday in 2021, marks the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas first learned of their freedom, more than two and a half years after former President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Evanston’s celebration kicked off around 10:30 a.m. with Opal’s Walk for Freedom, a two and a half mile march along the lakefront to honor the legacy of Opal Lee, a civil rights advocate remembered as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her decades-long campaign to recognize the holiday.
Walkers of all ages participated in the Juneteenth march, led by Opal Lee’s granddaughter Dione Sims and Kemone Hendricks, the event’s primary organizer.
Evanston Township High School’s cheer team and band performed during the community walk, as numerous local organizations and food vendors set up shop at Dawes Park for the festival to celebrate Black culture and resilience.
“July fourth freed the land, but Juneteenth freed the people,” Sims declared in her speech to a packed park of event-goers.
“Juneteenth being celebrated in Evanston is not only historical, but it is momentous, because you guys are the grounds for where reparations got its start and that is something you should be proud of,” Sims said.
Evanston launched the nation’s first municipal reparations program in 2021, in an effort to address the lasting impact of historically discriminatory housing practices on Black residents living in the city.
“My grandmother, who turns 100 years old this year…she thanks you for carrying her legacy,” Sims added.
“You know one thing she’ll say is, ‘I’m passing the baton to you, I’m not taking it with me. It’s up to you to make sure freedom does not die. It’s not just freedom for African Americans, it’s freedom for everybody’,” she voiced.
Carolyn J. Ruff, founder of the community activist group Black Lives Matter Women of Faith, told Pioneer Press she wouldn’t have missed the city’s Juneteenth celebration “for the world.”
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Born and raised in Evanston and a former Evanston Township High School employee, Ruff said she has participated in the annual event for years.
“I’m here to honor Opal, the ancestor and the elder that started this holiday…we’re walking today to carry a history.”
For much of the day, Ruff waved a Pan-African flag through the air, symbolic of the “blood shed” by the Black community in the fight for freedom and justice, she said.
“It’s really an African American flag that we carry no matter where we are marching.”
Edie Segal, an Evanston resident who volunteered to help put on the celebration, said she was looking forward to learning more about the importance of the holiday by participating in the day’s events.
“To be honest, I still don’t know enough about Opal Lee and Juneteenth, so I thought this was the best way to learn about it,” Segal said. “And it’s an absolutely beautiful day to be out here celebrating.”
Additional sponsors for the day’s festivities included Evanston Present and Future in collaboration with the City of Evanston, Mari Enterprise and Unity Unlimited.
The Juneteenth celebration continued on into the afternoon hours with live music and cultural performances by GreenTTea & the Tempos and NAJWA Dance Corps.
Various local food vendors like Hecky’s BBQ and Candlelite Pizza set up shop to serve event attendees while other booths displayed educational exhibits and historical displays.
The celebration also included family-friendly activities like face-painting, cornhole and a “Colors of Juneteenth” coloring contest based on the book and history guide by event organizer Kemone Hendricks.
Amanda D’Agostino, a special events coordinator for the Evanston Parks & Recreation Department, said this is the first year in the event’s seven-year history that it’s put on at Dawes Park.
“We usually do a parade, but with costs of policing and holiday time and all of that, it made more sense to do a centralized [celebration] versus traversing the city,” D’Agostino said.
“But we’ve packed the park,” she said with a smile, scanning the sea of community members commemorating the holiday.
“Today we’re celebrating the freedom of everybody, the freedom of all people.”