TRAVERSE CITY — A local organization has two events planned in town for this year’s Juneteenth.
Northern Michigan E3, which stands for “educate, elevate and engage,” hosted a 4k or 6.4k run/walk Saturday and a celebration today with food trucks, art, children’s activities and community engagement starting at 5 p.m. on Northwestern Michigan College’s main campus.
This is the fourth year the group has organized events like this, said board member Marshall Collins.
Juneteenth symbolizes American freedom, Collins said. “For me, I’d say that is my true freedom day – for all Americans – because that marks the day that all Americans were free.”
Over the years, the events they planned have expanded.
This year, they are partnering with others — Right Brain Brewery, the Traverse Area District Library and Northwestern Michigan College — to host some of the activities.
The first year E3 hosted a Juneteenth celebration, Collins said, they hosted it in the Open Space, near downtown Traverse City. Now, they are very grateful to be partnering with others in the community to host the celebration at different places.
These gatherings are particularly important in small towns like Traverse City to recognize diversity. “One person said this a couple weeks ago, ‘Traverse City is diverse, you just have to open up your eyes and see it.’”
Some people might not know very much about Juneteenth or the history behind it.
“I wasn’t taught this in schools, and our history books didn’t have it,” Collins said.
As a former history teacher, he said he had to do his own research about the holiday, since it’s not something that’s part of the regular school curriculum.
“Just come and celebrate and learn a little about Juneteenth and why we celebrate it and why it’s important,” Collins said in a message to the community.
Juneteenth was first declared a federally recognized holiday in 2021 by President Joe Biden. The bipartisan bill to proclaim the holiday was unanimously passed by the Senate; 14 House of Representatives members opposed it.
“While we celebrate the meaningful steps we have taken towards justice, equality, and opportunity, we must remain vigilant in our pursuit of a better future,” U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said in a statement Friday morning. “Juneteenth is a reminder of where we stand in that fight.”
In Michigan, Juneteenth has been a state-recognized holiday since 2005, according to a proclamation by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Then, this year, her office signed a new proclamation in support of the federally recognized holiday, which now makes Michigan one of 29 states, including the District of Columbia, that has adopted this legislation, according to Pew Research Center.
Whitmer pointed out that, on June 19, 1865, Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger landed at the Texas port city of Galveston as the Civil War was ending.
President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation long before that date, establishing the freedom of enslaved persons from their owners, to take effect on Jan. 1, 1863. But the news of that significant decision did not reach that southwestern outpost until more than two years later.
That’s when Granger read aloud from a balcony that proclamation stating that all slaves were freed and that former masters and slaves had absolute equality of personal and property rights. In modern times, that ceremony is re-enacted each year.
In honor of the nation’s historic proclamation of freedom, Whitmer said: “We encourage all citizens in the State of Michigan to participate in the Juneteenth Freedom Festival and celebrate African American history and culture, while continuing to promote diversity, equality, and a strong sense of community in our state.”