Bloomington-Normal will celebrate Juneteenth at Miller Park on Saturday with a family-centered event, including vocal performances, line dancing, a Community Icon Award ceremony, vendors, mobile health resources and more.
The free Juneteenth event, which runs from noon to 5 p.m., is sponsored by the City of Bloomington and the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project. In addition to the planned events, visitors receive free entrance to the Miller Park Zoo and mini-golf course.
“This year’s theme is ‘We are Family’” said Juneteenth coordinator Tony Jones. “That’s really the core, or the essence, of what we’re trying to achieve, is to basically provide an opportunity for everyone to come together.”
Juneteenth, which has been formally celebrated in Bloomington since 1993, became a state holiday in 2021. It celebrates June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas learned they had been freed from slavery. This came more than two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
'Leave the place better'
Three Community Icon Award winners will be recognized. This is the fourth year for the award, which honors those who have built legacies of service in the Bloomington-Normal community.
One of the honorees, Emily Bell, is recognized for her work investigating illegal discrimination for the City of Bloomington. She began her career there in 1979, working her way up to the role of human resources director over the course of 35 years. In 1984, she was recognized nationally for her work as an equal opportunity specialist.
“My goal was to bring someone along with me, to help someone — leave the place better than when I found it” Bell said. “Mahalia Jackson sings a song and some of the lyrics are, ‘If I can help somebody along the way, then my living’s not in vain.’ And that’s kind of a motto for me.”
Bell recalls an example of her work from the early 1980s. An interracial couple was denied housing in Bloomington, based on their race, she said. They filed a complaint with the City of Bloomington. Bell helped investigate, which included sending additional couples, white and Black, to the same place to pose as people seeking housing.
In addition to her professional service, Bell has served the Bloomington-Normal community civically and through the Wayman AME Church in Bloomington over the past 60 years.
Bell emphasized the importance of binding together and working as a “village” for a community to succeed. She credits many previous and current Bloomington-Normal leaders for their work.
“I’ve stood on the shoulders of a number of people, and taken wise counsel, their wisdom, their advice,” she said.
This year’s other Community Icon Award honorees are the late Monica Taylor, an alum of Illinois Wesleyan University who helped establish the Juneteenth celebration in Bloomington, and Evelyn Young, former executive director of the Bloomington-Normal Boys & Girls Club.
