SOUTH BEND — The crowd in LaSalle Park fell quiet as David Smith sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black National Anthem, a cappella. “Lift every voice and sing. … Ring with harmonies of Liberty,” Smith sang, his powerful voice giving attendees of the city’s 24th annual Juneteenth celebration a moment of calm before the event began.
The celebration was for Juneteenth, a federal holiday that marks June 19, 1865, the day enslaved African Americans in formerly Confederate states gained freedom. The final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered in Texas on June 19, two years after President Lincoln had originally issued the executive order on June 19, 1863.
To many, including Ta’nia Perry, a Purdue Polytechnic high school student at the event, the holiday is a nod to a broader understanding of American history.
“A lot of times we think of the Fourth of July as Independence Day when African Americans didn’t really become free until Juneteenth,” Perry said.
Local Black-owned businesses, nonprofits and food vendors set up tents in LaSalle Park on Saturday afternoon to greet community members, share information and sell their products. Prominent members of the Black community in South Bend, such as Gladys Muhammed, who retired from the South Bend Heritage Foundation, and Verge “Brother Sage” Gillam were in attendance. Muhammed performed speeches by Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. Brother Sage led a brief libation ceremony at the start of the event to remember community ancestors. South Bend-area musicians and spoken word poets also performed later in the day.
Cynthia Taylor was one of the small business owners at the event. She was selling a line of coloring books she created, inspired by time spent with her four grandchildren.
“A coloring book that has their culture, and kids that look like them … those are hard to find,” Taylor said. “And so I figured that if I created it myself, they would see themselves represented in the coloring book.”
One of her books, titled “The Brown Sugar Chefs ‘Soul Food’ Coloring Book: African American Women Cooking In The Kitchen” introduces young children to African American culinary traditions.
Taylor has lived in South Bend for 27 years and said that Juneteenth celebrations in the area have evolved over the years as awareness about the holiday has increased.
“It was more intimate where you maybe went to a church and families got together to celebrate,” she said, continuing, “now different organizations come together in the community, along with businesses and the City of South Bend for Juneteenth.”
Mia Diggins was selling body and hair oil she makes from scratch at the Juneteenth celebration. Diggins set up her business after losing her daughter to cancer in 2022. She wanted to create a hair growth oil that would help cancer survivors.
“When they go through chemo and they lose their hair, it just weighs on their self esteem,” Diggins said. “I wanted to do something for them.”
Since initially creating the hair growth oil, Diggins expanded into beard oils for men and body moisturizers catered to those with eczema and sensitive skin.
Representatives from several nonprofits were present at the event to promote their community programs and resources. Dismas House, an organization that runs housing and re-entry programs for the formerly incarcerated; the City of South Bend Human Rights Commission and 100 Black Men of Greater South Bend, an organization that provides mentorship and blood pressure screenings for African American men, were some of the groups present.
The free event was organized by the South Bend Chapter of the Indiana Black Expo. Regina Browder-Fleming, a member of the chapter who helped organize the event, said that while Juneteenth was designated a federal holiday in 2021, South Bend is one of the few city governments in Indiana that officially commemorates it and gives employees a day off.
Browder-Fleming said that to her, Juneteenth is about people of different backgrounds and races in the community celebrating freedom.
“It’s about everybody coming together,” she said, “and being free from whatever they’re enslaved to.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: LaSalle Park event marks Juneteenth, anniversary of last freed slaves
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