University News

Macomb Juneteenth Celebration Scheduled for Saturday

June 15, 2023

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MACOMB, IL – A Juneteenth celebration will be held from noon-4 p.m. Saturday, June 17 at the Mt. Calvary Church of God in Christ, 1500 E. Pierce St., in Macomb.

Juneteenth Freedom Day will include vendors, entertainment, food, music, games and unity.

Entertainment will include local talent, as well as a dance group from Quincy, IL, and gospel singers from Champaign, IL. Seventeen McDonough County social service agencies will be set up at the event, and there will be a wide variety of children's activities.

Local merchants have donated numerous items to be raffled off, and there will be a free food sampling menu consisting of jerk chicken, rice and peas, hot dogs, chips and beverages.

This is the second year Juneteenth is being recognized as a federal holiday. Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States, also marks the emancipation of African American slaves throughout the Confederate South. On June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers arrived at Galveston, TX with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were now free.

This is the third year for the Macomb commemoration of Juneteenth.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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