Delaware’s oldest Juneteenth organization, the Delaware Juneteenth Association, kicked off its series of events celebrating the holiday into high gear Monday with a parade and festival in Wilmington.
Under sunny skies and comfortable temperatures, dance troupes, pageant winners, youth and adult activity group members all strutted from Rodney Square down King Street past a sparse, but enthusiastic crowd.
“I enjoyed it,” said Robert Samuels of Dover after the last of the parade participants marched on. “I love seeing the youth get out there and do their thing.”
As far as parades go, this one was important to the 65-year-old.
For him, seeing young people dancing and enjoying themselves means that despite “bad decisions” some young people may make, there are others – like the ones he saw participate in the parade – that inspire him to feel “there’s still hope in the world,” Samuels said.
The importance, Samuels explained, is that Juneteenth is an ode to his ancestors.
“Our elders gave up so much, and we got to take advantage of it. Instead of laying back and not acknowledging them,” he said, but quickly added, “I’m sure they’re proud of us, too, today.”
Relishing in the festive mood of the parade, Samuels said he was not ready to end the festivities and planned to attend the Juneteenth festival at Tubman-Garrett Park.
Also headed to the festival was Charmaine Cephas of Wilmington. She said she had been to a couple of Juneteenth events in the past, but today’s was special.
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This time she brought her 3-year-old granddaughter, Island. It was important to her that the child knows about Juneteenth, and she said she hopes to see the event get bigger.
Asked how she felt about the commemoration now being a national holiday, Cephas smiled. As she packed up her belongings, she said she felt, “proud, proud.”
“It’s a blessing.”
Bigger and bigger every year
Gabi Barbera moved to Wilmington from South Carolina last month. Although she was aware of Juneteenth because Barack Obama had mentioned it during his presidency, Sunday was Barbera’s first time attending a Juneteenth event.
As a newcomer, she contrasted Wilmington’s celebration with her experience in South Carolina. Barbera said that Wilmington is different from where she came from and hopes that a conversation about what happened in this country will happen everywhere, “especially down South.”
Many elected officials made an appearance at the festival, as well. Among them was Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, who said she attended the festival to commemorate Juneteenth with everyone as an important inflection point in our country.
Jennings said the importance of knowing our history is relevant to who we are as Delawareans and is key to how we move forward as a country. She also described how lessons from this history intersect with the work of her office.
For her department to serve people in their capacity as law enforcement, Jennings said it means that they must deliver justice to each and every person while keeping in mind that “people’s civil rights come first and foremost in this state, and we have to be vigilant to protect all of this.”
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Festival organizer Brenda Timmon-Gunter said that much has changed in the 30 years since she joined Bernie Wilkins in his quest to establish Juneteenth as a widely embraced celebration in Wilmington. She said that it used to be difficult trying to get people to see the event as important.
“It really is a lot different than it used to be. To get people out and to get people to embrace what we were trying to do in the beginning was very difficult,” said Timmon-Gunter.
This apathy was as recent as 10 years ago, she said, and people are just now starting to grasp the idea of what is being celebrated and why it’s important.
When asked whether Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday is helping to change things, Timmon-Gunter hesitated to say yes. She said it’s bittersweet.
“The fact that it took this long to get to this point,” Timmon-Gunter said, “Slavery was like 150 years ago. It seems like we’ve been fighting the same fight, and we’re still fighting the same fight.”
Nevertheless, she said she feels that making the occasion a federal holiday was a step in the right direction. She perked up at the thought that it could become as important as local favorites like the Italian Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and the Greek Festival.
“You know,” Timmon-Gunter said, “now maybe people will start taking a different look at what we do to celebrate our freedom.”
Samuels, who earlier admired the parade, agreed.
“We’ve made some amazing ground,” he said, “but we’ve still got a ways to go.”
Contact reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com or 302-379-5786 with story ideas and tips. To get unlimited access to all of her reporting and the latest news please subscribe.
