Juneteenth celebrates freedom

American history books tell a tale of slavery that begins with manifest destiny and ends with President Lincoln's Jan. 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that "freed" the slaves.\nWhat Americans have learned outside the classroom is that slavery continued until June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode in Galveston, Texas, to inform the slaves the Civil War had ended, and they were free. Americans and people from around the world are celebrating Juneteenth this week, a celebration of freedom and the beginning of accessible democracy in America.\n"Initially, a lot of folks recognized the history of Juneteenth as a Texas holiday that symbolized the ending of slavery," said Clifford Robinson, founder of Juneteenth.com, a site dedicated to worldwide June 19 freedom celebrations. "Today the holiday is a lot broader than that. It's a celebration of freedom, honoring and recognizing the achievements of African Americans."\nHuman beings enslaved in the American South were not necessarily freed upon President Lincoln's executive order considering most Southern states seceded from the Union. American folklore suggests messengers carrying the news of the president's Emancipation Proclamation were captured or killed en route to the deep South in part to keep the institution of slavery alive and well in states like Texas.\nTexan slaves continued their whip and chain servitude for more then two years after many of their Southern brethren were either freed or attempted to flee into the abolitionist arms of the North. Television, newspapers, satellite phones and the internet enable Americans today to communicate almost instantly, but slaves who were not taught or allowed to read had to wait weeks to months to years for word of mouth communication.\nCommunity members wishing to learn more about Juneteenth or to partake in local June 19 freedom celebrations are invited to attend the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration parade and festival Saturday from the IU Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center to Bryan Park.\n"Juneteenth marked the day slavery ended in the U.S. and the beginning of democracy in the United States of America," said Oyibo Afoaku, director of the Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center. "Juneteenth is for everybody because we are all Americans and we are all proud of our democracy. We can't have a democracy if some of our people are enslaved and Juneteenth is the historical experience of every group in the U.S."\nA Juneteenth parade is scheduled to form at 9 a.m. in front of the Neal-Marshall Center, and the celebration of all freedom loving people departs for Bryan Park at 10 a.m. The Juneteenth festivities kick-off at 11 a.m. at the park with opening remarks by Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan among others. Community members are invited to meander among cultural and other information booths while the Indianapolis-based Blackberry Jam Band begins an afternoon of drum circle and orchestra Africa tunes.\nRobinson said Juneteenth does not just mark the end of slavery but the beginning of American segregation and many black Americans were disliked and resented from that moment forward. He also said freed slaves faced a difficult upward battle along the American social ladder because many black Americans did not have the inheritance of their grandfathers to fall back on or their father's knowledge of how to compete and achieve within corporate structures.\n"From the very beginning, the idea of education itself for blacks was something that was illegal. We demanded and were determined to receive an equal education," Robinson said. "It took a fight from both blacks and whites to overcome a culture of segregation and a climate of separating people based on race. The idea of black people excelling in the professional world was laughable even 50 years ago."\nThe parade route will head south along Jordan Avenue after embarking from the Neal-Marshall Center. Festival goers will then proceed east along First Street to Henderson Street before stopping at Bryan Park.\nAfoaku said all community members are encouraged to attend Bloomington's Juneteenth celebration because the history of black Americans is a significant part of American history even though history books exclude many black American achievements. She said the real tragedy of Juneteenth is that many enslaved black Americans taken from their native lands continued to wake up in the morning to work late into the night without realizing they were no longer bound by the shackles on their ankles because of the color of their skin.\n"If we look at the history of this country, America was built on diversity. People came here from all over the world. We should take advantage of what we have because today the world is becoming a global village," Afoaku said. "Many of us have neighbors and friends that are not entirely like you in many ways but we should learn more about each other because any problem is everybody's problem. We are all in this together as Americans and everybody fits in to Juneteenth freedom celebrations"