Spring Break
Third-annual Juneteenth celebration 'a success'
Zach Wingerter
Issue date: 6/23/05 Section: News
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Macomb Mayor Mick Wisslead and Western Illinois University President Al Goldfarb proclaimed June 19 to be citywide "Juneteenth Day."
"It was a success," said Belinda Carr, director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Cultural Center. "Overall the celebration was wonderful. The attendance keeps going up every year. The idea is to get the campus and community together - I think we accomplished that goal."
"The whole Juneteenth in and of itself is a celebration that rolls out of slavery. Slaves in Texas found out they were free two years after the rest of the country," Carr said. "It celebrates freedom and helps us understand freedom. It's not meant to replace the Fourth of July, but we recognize it as freedom of African-American slaves."
The Juneteenth celebration kicked off with a ceremony at 5 p.m. Paul Kreider, College of Fine Arts and Communication dean, was the master of ceremony. After Vera Miller of the Faith Deliverance Holiness Apostolic Church led a prayer, Ella Worthington from Decatur, led the audience in a song.
Joseph Rallo, Western's Provost, spoke on behalf of Wisslead and Goldfarb, who were unable to attend.
After Dawn Blackman told a story about her youth and growing up, Illinois Sen. John Sullivan came up to say a few words.
"As I look out over this crowd ... it reminds me of when I'm sitting on the Senate floor and looking at the people that I serve with," Sullivan said in his speech during Saturday afternoon's ceremony. "There's men, there's women, there's blacks, whites, Latinos, Hispanics ... every background, every occupation. It's really a reflection of this state and, of course, quite frankly this nation as well."
