PEORIA, Ill. – Juneteenth is this coming Wednesday, but Peoria got a head start on the celebration Saturday by hosting its first-ever Juneteenth Parade.
25 News reports the parade was organized by the Peoria branch of the NAACP. Bands, drummers and community organizations marched in South Peoria.
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration marking the end of slavery in the United States. Major General Gordon Granger, on June 19, 1865, ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the Civil War.
President Joe Biden recognized Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021.
NAACP Peoria Branch First Vice-President Sherry Carter-Allen told 25 news Jackson “put the E in equal opportunity.”
“For social justice, she was a warrior,” Carter-Allen said. “She represented women’s rights, minority rights, labor rights. Ernestine Jackson was small in stature but carried a large stick in terms of civil liberties.”
Jackson’s son, Donald Jackson Jr., said he and his family are honored to have the parade named in honor of his mother.
“My mother was going to live on, and on, and on with everything she’s done for this community prior to this,” Jackson said. “Having her name tied to this is just a wonderful thing.”
Peoria’s fourth annual Juneteenth Fest in John Gwynn Park followed the parade.
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