East Lansing to Celebrate Juneteenth This Sunday (June 18)
The City of East Lansing will host a march to celebrate Juneteenth this Sunday, June 18.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. at the Hannah Community Center and marchers will follow a path to the East Lansing Farmer’s Market in Valley Court Park. There, celebratory programming will continue with opportunities for everyone – from the young to the elderly – to participate.
Juneteenth, officially known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a United States federal holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It became a federal holiday in 2021.
Juneteenth is often referred to as “America’s second Independence Day” and is increasingly being celebrated throughout communities in America. In East Lansing, public Juneteenth celebrations began with the Pinecrest Neighborhood Association in 2018, according to information provided by the City of East Lansing.
The 2020 event in Pinecrest was held in association with the national Movement for Black Lives following nationwide protests after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police.
The event in Pinecrest continued into 2021. Also in the Pinecrest neighborhood, in September 2021, the City of East Lansing and East Lansing Public Schools honored Dr. Robert L. Green, a nationally-recognized civil rights leader and one of the first Black homeowners in East Lansing, by renaming Pinecrest Elementary School after him. A historical marker was put in place recognizing the history of racist housing discrimination in East Lansing as well as local efforts to end it.
Now the Juneteenth celebration in East Lansing is being moved from Pinecrest toward the center of the city with this year’s march.
On Monday night, East Lansing’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Elaine Hardy, reminded the East Lansing Human Rights Commission (HRC) of the upcoming event. Hardy provides staff support to the HRC, which handles civil rights complaints in the city and acts to promote civil rights and dialogues around civil rights.
On June 6, East Lansing’s City Council passed a resolution “acknowledging the history of Juneteenth and declaring Juneteenth a holiday in the City of East Lansing.” That resolution encouraged community members “to join the first annual Juneteenth all community march and celebration.”
The resolution also said the Council “encourages all organizations to join in the national observance of Juneteenth by posting a copy of General Order No. 3 in their establishments.”
General Order No. 3 is the formal legal degree that, in 1865, enforced the Emancipation Proclamation by formally freeing all remaining slaves in Texas. (Background on General Order No. 3 and a PDF of the decree are available from the National Archives.)
ELi reported in January that East Lansing’s population is growing more diverse even as its total population has stagnated, according to the U.S. census. The 2020 census showed a dramatic increase in the number of Black residents in East Lansing, up from 3,303 in 2010 (6.8% of the population) to 5,776 in 2020 (12.1% of the population).
East Lansing’s Council has its first two elected Black members in history – Dana Watson and Ron Bacon – with Ron Bacon elected Mayor by the Council. Randy Talifarro, East Lansing’s Interim City Manager, is the first Black person in that top position.
The City of East Lansing has not yet made a formal press announcement about Sunday’s events. ELi will update this article with more information when that becomes available.
Juneteenth celebrations are also going on in Lansing, with a special website dedicated to those events.
Update, 8 p.m. The city issued a press release on the celebration, providing more information.
Free parking for the march will be available at the Hannah Community Center and the public library, which is closed on Sunday.
“The march will be led by Kefentse Chike, a professor of drumming,” the release states. “The route will take participants south on Abbot Road to Oakhill Avenue, turning onto Evergreen Avenue and ending at Valley Court Park.”
At Valley Court Park, programming will include live jazz music, an appearance of the Library on the Go van and a booth by WKAR public radio.
“We are excited for the community to come together to celebrate Juneteenth, our nation’s second Independence Day,” East Lansing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Elaine Hardy said in the release.