Juneteenth

The Bloomington-Normal community will mark Juneteenth on Saturday during an event at Miller Park, featuring live music and dance, activities for kids, and a ceremony commemorating three community servants.

Rare corvettes will be on display and cruising Route 66 at the annual Bloomington Gold car show.

Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe is enthusiastic about some of the ideas that came out of a recent symposium to create solutions to the housing shortage.

The Juneteenth celebrations will include a variety of activities, entertainment, and opportunities for community engagement. Bloomington-Normal, Lincoln, and Peoria will each take part in these celebrations.

The community celebrated Juneteenth on Saturday at Miller Park. The event was hosted by the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project in partnership with the City of Bloomington.

Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said he has a big vision for the annual Juneteenth celebration at Miller Park, emphasizing that marking the end of slavery is important for the entire community.

Juneteenth has been celebrated in Bloomington off and on for 30 years. Last year's move to Miller Park came with a boost of city support. The 2023 Juneteenth promises to be bigger than ever, with V.I.P. the Little Mermaid making an appearance.

Two cultural events are planned in the city of Lincoln this month, even after their city council denied a request for financial help.

June 19 is a commemoration of the end of chattel slavery in the United States, marking the day enslaved people in Texas were finally freed — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

The day that marks the anniversary of the day in 1865 when some of the last enslaved Americans learned that they had been freed is now an official state holiday in Illinois.