Recap: Milwaukee celebrates Juneteenth
Wednesday was Juneteenth and Milwaukee was celebrating.
The Milwaukee Juneteenth Day Celebration, centered at West Locust Street and North King Drive, including a parade as well as music, art, dance, food, speakers, vendors and lots of activities.
We provided live coverage of the event. Here's a recap:
Milwaukee artists to perform at Washington Park
Following a successful 53rd annual Juneteenth Day in Milwaukee on King Drive, a new event formed this year for the evening hours.
From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Washington Park Bandshell, 1859 N. 40th St., “Juneteenth Peace Day” was organized by This 4 The City and activist Vaun Mayes.
A handful of Milwaukee musicians are to perform, including 414BIGFrank, JP, Myaa P, MT Twins, StevedaStoner and 414Kennedi.
— Drake Bentley
Chicago art vendors part of growing celebration
Alongside food and refreshment stalls, jewelry, accessories and art stands dotted King Drive. Lee Shaw of Chicago, and his brother have sold their 3D pictures and art pieces at Juneteenth and Summerfest.
“It’s hard to find a lot of Black art that pictures us in a different light. Dressed up in suits, as political leaders, just different types of auras,” Shaw said.
— Jane Park
Health care for the Black community
There were also stands of health initiatives and wellness programs, such as the Milwaukee Center for Independence, which works people with disabilities and disadvantages, and ECCHO, a civic engagement training program that seeks to improve health outcomes for BIPOC women and non-binary people.
Among them was a table for the Progressive Community Health Center, an organization that aims to provide medical services for underserved communities. According to David Goings, the table was a way to inform visitors about the center’s services, as well as their insurance qualifications.
“A lot of people are not aware of their insurance status,” said Goings. “Especially people who are newly released. People who are newly released tend to have insurance but they aren’t aware that they have them… We’re able to tell them what they qualify for.”
— Jane Park
Soul food vendors carry on family tradition
The string of food vendors represented a variety of businesses, from small lemonade stands to food trucks like Big Boy Kitchen to homemade food stalls, such as Ethel’s Southern Catering.
Trina Lockhart started Ethel’s Southern Catering in honor of her mother who passed away in 2006. Through her catering service, Lockhart has continued her mother’s legacy of New Orleans-style soul food: mac & cheese with cornbread, oxtail dinner and sides of red beans and rice.
“Everything that my mom made was from scratch,” Lockhart said. “She really put her heart and soul with what little that we had, to make all these great meals.”
— Jane Park
Group supports those incarcerated, says Juneteenth means 'unity'
Present at the festival was WISDOM, an advocacy organization that supports those incarcerated. Wisconsin has the third highest Black-white imprisonment disparity in the country.
Yolanda Perkins, WISDOM’s associate director, said “it’s important to be at this event to let the community know that we’re fight for them.”
“Every human life has value and dignity,” she said. “We want to bring the community together to be able to fight for what’s right and what’s just.”
Juneteenth means “unity” to Perkins.
— Drake Bentley
'Juneteenth means freedom'
Dewayne Savage, a member of a Christian church in Texas but a Milwaukee native, said he returned to his hometown to spread a message and spread the “gospel.”
“Juneteenth means freedom,” he said. “And it means empowerment. And it means the opportunity to just be part of our great nation.”
— Drake Bentley
Youth football program part of Juneteenth festival
Founder of Prospect University Sports youth football and cheer program, Jeremy Nimitz, has been coaching football at the youth level for 31 years. He said it was important for the Milwaukee-based group to be at the Juneteenth festival to be present in the community.
“We wanted to show our face, support the community,” he said. "We want the community to support us so we’re here to help with everything.”
Roughly 200 to 250 kids, ages 5 to 14, from the Milwaukee area are involved in the program.
— Drake Bentley
Trueskool performs at Juneteenth Celebration
Amid the festival was the group Trueskool playing drums as people patronize King Drive. “This is the music of our ancestors,” said Eli Brown, the group’s leader.
— Drake Bentley
Parade comes to a close
After several stops and starts, the Juneteenth parade is over.
As part of the festival opening ceremony, seven young people are crowned Mr and Miss Juneteenth. County and state political leaders are speaking about what Juneteenth means to them.
Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski highlighted that Milwaukee is home to the longest-running and largest Juneteenth event in the United States. The festival is now in its 53rd year. “So while we celebrate today … we know tomorrow we have to continue to persist and fight and do it together,” she said.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson, wearing a Biden Harris shirt, encouraged the Black community to vote in the fall. “President Biden’s opponent said he’s going to be a dictator on day one,” Johnson said. “But you know who laid the foundation for American democracy? … It was Black people who did that. So Black people are not going to send a dictator to the White House.”
Drum group Milwaukee Hittaz is performing at the corner of Chambers Street and King Drive.
Candidates for office march in parade
Candidates for office are marching in the parade and canvassing in booths, hoping to catch Juneteenth crowds. Calena Roberts of Power to the Polls Wisconsin says that voting is a way to protect the freedom that Juneteenth celebrates.
“It’s gonna take a village, a community of people to come out and cast their ballot,” she said. Roberts has been directing passersby to register to vote in the upcoming primary.
— Kathryn Muchnick
Milwaukee County Youth Commission leads march
The Milwaukee County Youth Commission is marching by on King Drive, leading a chant of “freedom day” to onlookers.
— Kathryn Muchnick
Vendors promote small businesses and community organizations
Vendors and community organizations are setting up their booths and watching the parade begin to roll by. Patrice Djiguiba has been setting her booth up since 5:30 this morning. Her business — Core Intentions — sells waist beads made by her sisters-in-law in West Africa.
“It’s very emotional to see how everyone is gathered here today in celebration,” she said.
— Kathryn Muchnick
Action on Atkinson Avenue
Things are moving on Atkinson Avenue. Greater Milwaukee Urban League, HyFin urban alternative radio (a Radio Milwaukee station) and a group of cyclists representing Red, Bike and Green, a community-building collective that focuses on health, are passing by.
An energetic group from Nefertari African Dance Company is performing.
— Tom Daykin
Mr. and Miss Juneteenth winners line up for parade
A line of five Mr and Miss Juneteenth winners is driving down King Drive in Corvettes, queuing up for the parade. Each young person is waving to the crowd, wearing a crown and sash, as their family members cheer them on.
— Kathryn Muchnick
Paradegoer dressed as Batman joins procession
A guy dressed as Batman shows up on a motorcycle and tells police officers manning a barricade that he’s in the parade. A somewhat-annoyed officer tells him he was supposed to be here earlier but lets him join the procession.
— Tom Daykin
Jubilee Parade begins moving slowly
Milwaukee’s Juneteenth parade is starting slowly. At the parade route’s starting point, at West Atkinson Avenue and North 14th Street, parade participants are waiting to start moving. That includes people holding Biden/Harris campaign signs, a group of pickup trucks and Jeeps, and a cargo truck representing the Vet Center, which provides social services for veterans and their families. The parade's middle point begins moving at a deliberate pace.
— Tom Daykin
Jubilee Parade is the morning centerpiece of the Milwaukee Juneteenth Day Celebration
The Jubilee Parade, running from 9 to 11 a.m., starts at North 14th Street and West Atkinson Avenue, travels south to King Drive, then south to Locust Street.
The parade features dance and music groups, floats and more. Here's a map of the parade route.
What's open and closed in Milwaukee on Juneteenth?
While Juneteenth is considered a federal holiday, several stores and businesses may remain open for customers. Grocery stores like Walmart, Target, Aldi and Trader Joe's will operate during their normal business hours. Federal businesses such as post offices and large banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo will be closed.
In the city of Milwaukee, garbage collection will be paused on Juneteenth.
Milwaukee’s first Juneteenth celebration
June 19, 1972 was the first time Juneteenth, or Jubilee Day as it's known in the South, was celebrated in a northern city. And for Milwaukee’s first Juneteenth celebration, it rained.
"A few umbrellas began to sprout up from the crowd. But most people remained oblivious to the showers, drank beer and continued to enjoy the music … ," Wanda L. Bryant wrote in a story in The Milwaukee Journal on June 20, 1972.
The rain started shortly after the festival started, chasing away some of the crowds. But the skies cleared a few hours later and people came back. The inaugural 12-hour Juneteenth festival was attended by more than 3,000 people, organizers estimated.
By the mid-1980s, the festival was attracting more than 100,000 people, according to organizer estimates. While the 2024 event is a lot bigger than Milwaukee's first Juneteenth celebration, the sense of community at the heart of the event is the same as it was in 1972.
What is the Juneteenth flag?
The Juneteenth flag is red and blue, featuring a white star and sunburst in the middle, with each element representing an aspect of Black American freedom.
Originally designed in 1997 by Ben Haith and illustrated by Lisa Jeanne Graf, the red, white and blue color palette is a reminder that enslaved people and their descendants were and are Americans.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union Army soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with the news that the Civil War was over and all slaves were free.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth an official federal holiday. It has been widely celebrated as such since 2022.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Recap: Milwaukee celebrates Juneteenth
