CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An Illinois State holiday and now officially a federal holiday as of this week, Juneteenth, which commemorates the events of June 19, 1865, have been remembered and celebrated for much longer in communities of color.
"Juneteenth has been an important day and in our culture and Black culture for a long time. So I'm loving to see the recognition and that people are recognizing it. Because it's just another piece of American history. Should have been taught from the beginning,” one man told WBBM Newsradio.
June 19, 1865 marks when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War was over and that enslaved people were free since the Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect for more than two years.
At the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Bronzeville, artistic director Bril Barrett said there is no right or wrong way to celebrate the final days of slavery in the United States.
Barrett who is also the founder and director of M.A.D.D. Rythms led his group during their Juneteenth celebration in a freestyle tap circle.
Barrett spoke to WBBM Newsradio about the cynicism some in his community have expressed over the holiday recognition and what some call merely a symbolic gesture.
"I'm not an either-or kind of guy. I'm an either-and kind of guy. So I believe while we're still fighting for voting rights, and while we're still fighting for the John Lewis law and the George Floyd and policing law, like all those laws, that this is also a good thing. So yeah, it's a step in the direction of promoting and making sure that the full and true history of the country is told to all and shared by all," Barrett told WBBM Newsradio.