Talking to the 17 people joining her on the Juneteenth Journey bus tour of places in Waukegan with significance to African American history, state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, had no lack of greetings.
“Happy Juneteenth. Happy Jubilee Day. Happy Emancipation Day. Happy Freedom Day,” Johnson said before the group boarded the bus for the Waukegan Public Library, Oakwood Cemetery and Trinity AME Church.
Juneteenth marks the announcement of the end of slavery on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Johnson said Saturday at another event she prefers observation to celebration when it comes to Juneteenth. For her, the fight for freedom is a continual effort because she said there are times people try to stifle it, whether it is because of racial, ethnic or gender biases.
“It’s a continual commitment because we can’t relax,” she said Saturday. “We still have work to do to ensure everybody is finally free.”
Quoting the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, Johnson, “Every generation has the moral obligation to continue to fight for freedom.”
A pair of bus tours, a celebration at the African American Museum at England Manor and another at the Waukegan Public Library were some of the events marking Juneteenth Wednesday in Waukegan.
As people were listening to Johnson and museum founder Sylvia England before leaving on the bus, the youngest person there, a 3-month-old girl, likely did not understand the words. But, her parents, Sarah and Dan Weiss of Highland Park, know what they want for her when she grows up.
“We want her to live in a world where harmony for every race, culture or religion can call each other brother and sister, and learn from each other in a world of compassion, empathy and freedom,” Sarah Weiss said.
During the first stop at the library, the participants heard from Joanna Layne of the Zion Genealogical Society about techniques to learn of their ancestry. She said to start soon, while it is easier to learn from the oldest generation in a family.
Keith Ringgold, who is Black, was on the second bus tour of the day. He said he came to learn what he could about his ancestors and their connection to Juneteenth. He has done a family tree on part of his family, and did not learn of any who were enslaved.
“We were in southern Illinois and Arkansas,” Ringgold said. “I was able to go as far back as far as 1825 and found no slaves. It’s amazing.”
Jennyfer Cordova, the library’s communications and community engagement manager, said along with the lunch and learn with Dwayne Springs, there is a prominent display of books for all ages at the library and four display cases of artifacts from the museum.
Founder of Springs Prep Academy, Springs is a longtime educator, coach and community activist. Though Juneteenth is a day to celebrate the end of slavery, he said there are painful things people need to learn.
“We were an enslaved people,” Springs said. “For 300 years, we were humans but treated as chattel.”
Before the bus tours Wednesday in Waukegan — two more are scheduled for 10 am. and noon Saturday — England organized one in Zion. Among the stops was the Mr. Zion Church, which spawned many of the Black churches in Waukegan and North Chicago.
Last weekend, more than 22,000 people celebrated the holiday in the three-day Juneteenth Freedom Festival at Foss Park in North Chicago. There were two concerts, a deejay offering music at other times, food and dozens of vendors.
Shaquita Blanks, the program manager for the Freedom Festival organized by the Greater Waukegan Development Coalition, said more than 20,000 tickets were sold for Grammy nominee Jon B Saturday and Kindred the Family Soul Sunday.
Already planning next year’s event, Blanks said scores of volunteers were essential to making the festival work, from the time they began getting the park ready last week to putting it back in order when the last concertgoer left Sunday.
“The volunteers who came for three days helped make this an enormous success,” Blanks said. “This is something money can’t buy.
