As Juneteenth approaches, a local nonprofit wants the holiday to be about celebrating the liberation of enslaved Black people and uplifting Chicago’s underserved youth on the South and West sides.
The holiday marks a historic moment from 159 years ago and will be officially celebrated in Cook County for the fourth time on June 19.
Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and 19, honors the day when the last enslaved African Americans learned they had been freed — two years after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation.
State and county politicians and local leaders kicked off Juneteenth celebrations Monday at Malcolm X College.
“If you understand what Juneteenth is really about, you know that Juneteenth is about freedom,” said Barbara Deer, executive director of Juneteenth Illinois, a nonprofit that commemorates the holiday and publicizes celebrations across the state. The organization also awards scholarships to first-year college students from the South and West sides.
Deer’s husband is Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer, who led the push to make Juneteenth a holiday. The day was officially made a paid county holiday in 2020. Chicago and Illinois followed suit and made Juneteenth a paid holiday for city and state employees in June 2021.
In April, the Cook County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution declaring the entire month of June a celebration of Juneteenth.
“Juneteenth represents a bridge,” Cook County Commissioner Bill Lowry told the crowd Monday. “It’s a bridge between our past. It’s a bridge which binds our present, and it is the bridge that will take us to our future, and it is a future which I truly believe can be boundless.”
Juneteenth Illinois will hold two celebrations in Cook County this month: a reception on June 14 honoring the recipients of the organization’s Juneteenth college scholarships and a daylong event on June 22 with panels discussing equity in education, entrepreneurship, criminal justice and health care.
Juneteenth Illinois also mentors first-year college students from the South and West sides. At its reception this month, $10,000 in scholarships will be awarded to 10 students.
“We have some bright young scholars here on the West Side of Chicago and on the South Side of Chicago who are doing some incredible work,” state Sen. Lakesia Collins said Monday. “That is because of the village that we are creating and investing in those young people.”
Romell Franklin Jr., a rising junior at Morehouse College from the West Side, received a $1,500 scholarship from the organization his first year of college. Since then, he’s served as a mentor to new scholarship recipients.
“This scholarship was way more than just a check,” Franklin said. “This beautiful service that they’re doing for our community and our people is actually great, and it’s something that you don’t see a lot of.”
As a recipient, Franklin said he loved the chance to receive monthly mentorship from Juneteenth Illinois and to connect with fellow students.
While the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the South in 1863, it wasn’t enforced in many places until two years later when the Civil War ended. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news to Galveston, Texas.
Juneteenth Illinois publishes a calendar of Juneteenth events throughout June, and organizers are encouraged to submit their celebrations to be posted on the group’s website.
