photo by: Matt Resnick | Journal-World

A crowd takes part in the Juneteenth celebration at South Park on June 17, 2023.

What does Juneteenth mean to Lawrence?

At the city’s annual celebration of the holiday on Saturday, attendees had plenty of answers: It’s about Black history and culture, social service, learning, singing and dancing — and it’s a time for building community.

“This event is great, and I love that it brings the community together,” said Catherine Tolbert-Gladney, who’s originally from Lawrence and traveled from her current home in Sikeston, Mo., for the festivities.

Juneteenth, which became the United States’ newest federal holiday in 2021, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It was first celebrated in Texas, and its date comes from the day when troops belatedly enforced emancipation in Galveston, Texas — June 19, 1865.

Saturday’s celebration in downtown Lawrence started with a parade down Massachusetts Street, and then visitors and locals alike congregated in South Park, where businesses and other vendors set up shop.

The celebration has grown since last year, said Janine Colter, president of the Lawrence Juneteenth Organization, and the turnout exceeded her expectations.

“We want awareness and education — but also to have a fun celebration with unity, and to have a good time,” she said.

photo by: Matt Resnick | Journal-World

In this photo from June 17, 2023, youth dancers participate in Saturday’s Juneteenth parade on Mass Street.

Colter lauded community organizations — nonprofits and local governments alike — for their involvement, and said that “There are resources here where people can find out information they may not know.” She also highlighted the music and dance at the celebration, including the youth dancers who dazzled during the morning parade, as well as a performance by renowned R&B singer Macy Gray.

“We definitely share our African-American history here. A big part of our communication is through music, so we just want a celebration,” Colter said.

The exact time of Gray’s performance was not announced prior to the show, and Colter said that was because the Juneteenth committee wanted to avoid having people show up exclusively to attend Gray’s performance.

“We want people to be neighborly and to get to know each other,” she said.

Another attraction at the event was a community service awards ceremony, which Colter said was “for people that really make a difference in the community, through social service and giving back.”

The honorees included the winners of a high school essay contest. Two of the winners were from Lawrence Free State High School and one from Lawrence High. And the T-shirt worn by event staff and organizers, which also displayed the theme of the essays — “Power for change is within all of us” — was designed by a Free State student.

“We definitely get the young people involved,” Colter said.

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At a table in the park, Kevin Caro had a plaque that told the story of how the holiday gained its federal status.

“A lot of people don’t know what Juneteenth is all about,” he said. He related the story of Opal Lee, the retired teacher and activist from Texas who was a key figure in getting the holiday its current national recognition.

“… Opal Lee walked 1,359 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C., in 2016,” Caro said of the then 89-year-old Lee. “She delivered 1.5 million signatures to Congress to help make Juneteenth a federal holiday.”

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Kevin Caro displays a plaque on June 17, 2023, honoring Opel Lee — an activist who played an integral role in Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday.

Even though Juneteenth is celebrated all over the country now, Caro emphasized that some people still don’t know about the history of the holiday, or even that slavery in the United States didn’t end when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

“A lot of slaves didn’t even know that they were free,” and that’s a detail that often goes overlooked, Caro said.

Saturday’s events included stories of Lawrence’s own Black history, such as the bus tour of Underground Railroad sites — what Tolbert-Gladney said was one of the best parts of the celebration.

Tolbert-Gladney said it’s important amid the celebrations to honor the stories of Black Americans and their contributions to U.S. history.

“People need to be educated because they’re telling the wrong story,” she said. “Others took credit for a lot of the things that were developed and built by Black people.”

Many people at the celebration emphasized that while Juneteenth is a celebration of Black culture and history, it’s also an inclusive holiday where anyone is welcome to show up, learn, and celebrate.

“It’s to celebrate people,” said attendee Viola Stevens. “Not necessarily African-American people, but people in general.”

And staffer Marlon Wesley, a member of the Lawrence NAACP branch, said people of all backgrounds turned out on Saturday to celebrate.

“I love seeing people together and supporting Juneteenth,” Wesley said. “To see people of many nationalities here is what it’s all about.”

Some people even came from faraway states to celebrate in the place where they grew up.

One of them was Leonard Martin, a Lawrence native who now lives in Phoenix. Martin, who was the first Black drum major at Lawrence High School, said that “this event has very special meaning to me,” largely because of how it strives to include everyone.

“Not only is it for Black people, it’s for everybody,” he said. “This is American history.”

photo by: Matt Resnick |Journal-World

In this photo from June 17, 2023, local youth display their musical skills during Saturday’s Juneteenth celebration at South Park.