Willie Edwards is a 75-year-old Waukegan native. She is a grandmother, and a great grandmother. She said she learned about Juneteenth only a few years ago, and she recently bought a T-shirt online with a message to wear when she celebrates now.
Reading “Juneteenth, June 19th, 1865, because my ancestors weren’t free in 1776,” Edwards said her parents never told her about the Southern United States her mother fled at 9.
“They kept us away from all that,” Edwards said. “They were trying to protect us. They wouldn’t let us go down South because they were afraid of what may happen. I’ll be telling my grandchildren and great grandchildren about their history while they sit at my feet.”
Wygenia Brisco, third from left, talks to U.S. Rep Brad Schneider while her great nieces, Alivia Bone, second from left, and Allani Nort, listen.
Edwards was among more than 750 people at the Juneteenth youth celebration Monday at Whittier Elementary School in Waukegan, capping a four-day weekend of events commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States.
Sylvia England, the founder of the African American Museum in Waukegan, said it is important for people old enough to remember the days of legislated discrimination in the South against Black people to deprive them of voting and other rights, to tell their stories.
“My great, great, great grandmother was born a slave,” England said. “It was hard to research. People should tell their stories. When we put bits and pieces together, we get a bigger story.”
Starting Friday with a cookout in Zion, there was a historical bus tour through Waukegan, North Chicago and Lake Bluff, and a party in North Chicago Saturday. After a gospel concert in North Chicago Sunday, the holiday weekend ended with a prayer breakfast in Mundelein and the youth event Monday.
Pony rides were part of the entertainment at the Juneteenth youth celebration Monday in Waukegan.
Brandon Ewing, one of the organizers of the weekend’s events and the president of the Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 Board of Education, said it is important to make sure the next generation knows the story of Juneteenth. A party atmosphere helps the mission.
“It’s important to keep telling the story so the next generation and the ones after them … know the truth about American history,” Ewing said.
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