PEKIN, Ill. – For NAACP Peoria President Marvin Hightower, Juneteenth is not just about remembering the end of slavery in America, but learning from it.
“History is there to let us know how we got to where we are, so that we can plan for the future, and navigate around those mountains that have already been navigated around. Because if you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it,” Hightower said.
Hightower’s sentiments were relayed to a crowd gathered at Wednesday’s Tazewell County Juneteenth celebration. He was one of the featured speakers at the event.
Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved black Americans on June 19th each year. The holiday was regional in the South for many years, before becoming a federal holiday in the past few years.
Hightower says the increased attention and presence of Juneteenth is a good thing, and can also help motivate people to serve their communities.
The highlight of the ceremony on Wednesday was the unveiling of an Illinois State Historical Marker and stone monument honoring the 29th Colored Infantry. The infantry was 12 African-American men from Pekin and Elm Grove who enlisted to fight for the Union Army in the Civil War in April of 1864.
The 12 men who served are:
- Sgt. Marshall Ashby, Pekin
- Cpl. William Henry Ashby, Pekin
- Pvt. William Henry Costley, Pekin
- Pvt. George H. Hall, Pekin
- Pvt. William Price, Elm Grove
- Pvt. Thomas Tumbleson, Elm Grove
- Cpl. Nathan Ashby, Pekin
- Pvt. William J. Ashby, Pekin
- Pvt. Morgan Day Elm Grove
- Pvt. Edward Lewis, Pekin
- Pvt. Thomas G.L. Shipman, Pekin
- Pvt. George W. Lee, Pekin
Pekin Historian Jared Olar says the 12 were “ordinary men” who went to fight for something bigger than themselves.
“These were the kind of men who stepped forward when their country called on them, and how willing they were to fight, not only for their country, but also knowing they are fighting for their own race, their own people,” Olar said.
Olar says the 12 men of the infantry were not rich, with some working as laborers and farmhands. He says they should be remembered as “our sons” who stepped forward when their country needed them.
Olar says research into them was difficult, because records of non-wealthier people were more scarce. He used census records, burial records, grave markers, newspaper clippings, and even history of the infantry itself, to help tell their stories.
Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman says telling their stories is a positive part of Pekin’s history.
“While Pekin has been broad painted by some individuals, broad brushed, as a racist community, with some of its history. I think this history shows a more deeper conversation is needed to see that history isn’t always accurate. That this community had a rich history of being open and welcoming to all individuals,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman says that history also includes Pekin being the home of the first two emancipated slaves under Abraham Lincoln.
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