On a hot and sunny Thursday, Gary’s Midtown neighborhood welcomed a flurry of Juneteenth flags, shirts, and camaraderie as community members gathered to celebrate the holiday. Chants, laughter, and music filled the air as the parade celebrated the Black holiday.
“It’s so nice that the weather opened up,” said one parade attendee as she danced to the music.
A procession featuring dancers, Slingshot sports vehicles, Corvettes, and vehicles from other organizations wound its way from the intersection of 15th Avenue and Broadway to Roosevelt High School. From the Gary YMCA to Roosevelt, spectators sat in lawn chairs, on motorcycles, and on sidewalks as they watched the parade.
“Juneteenth is so important now because education is the key,” said Trinity Campbell.
Representing the education nonprofit Gary Alumni Pathway to Students, she emphasized the importance of investing in the next generation through education.
“The whole point of Juneteenth is that slaves were freed, but because there was limited knowledge and education, so many of them didn’t know that they were free at the time.”
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when U.S. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that enslaved African Americans were free, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation issued 2½ years earlier.
Thursday’s celebration reflected Gary’s rich Black history — from being the first major U.S. city to elect a Black mayor, to the legacy of U.S. Rep. Katie Hall, who helped establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to the rise of the Jackson 5 and others who made their mark in politics, the arts, and athletics.
“Juneteenth means pride to me,” she said, laughing. “To know I wake in the morning, Black every day? I love it.”
A similar sentiment was felt by 61-year-old Yvettra Marshall. The Gary native was among the several members of the community riding in their Slingshots in the parade. Her gray and pink Slingshot, featuring eyelashes for her lights and pink lights around the seats, was something she just got into in the past year with a group of local riders between Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
“You can’t take this melanin away,” she said, gesturing to her body. “[So Juneteenth is important] because of those that went before us and fought for this and that, I’m a part of that this or that.”
Code-named “Blondie,” she drove with a cigar in her hand, playing music and dancing with people as they viewed her car. A full-time flight attendant, she’s lived all over the country and other places, but in her words, there’s nothing like stepping off the plane and coming home to Gary.
“We’ve been in the background for so long, it’s time for us to step forward and shine,” she said.
Rasheida Bennett was among the several small-business owners who attended the event to meet more members of the community and enjoy the holiday. Her company, Passions Fruitopia, specializes in creating custom, art-inspired charcuterie boards for its customers. Having lived in Gary for the past decade, she has witnessed the city’s growth.
“I really do love the love and proudness that comes from this city because there are a lot of gems that have come out of Gary,” she said.
Walking around the Roosevelt parking lot, she handed out flyers from her business and introduced herself to people she had never met before. As she learns more about the city, her love for its rich Black history grows.
“Gary had Black teachers, lawyers, and doctors, even a Black Wall Street that nobody noticed,” Bennett said, talking about some of the Black history that the city was proud of. “I grew up in New York, and my first Black teacher wasn’t until I got to high school, and she was a home economics teacher.”
She reflected on how, when she was younger, people grew up knowing American history without knowing the whole story. During her time in high school, she pointed out that the only commemoration of the holiday was with a basketball tournament throughout the city. It wasn’t until she was an adult, did research, and understood the background of the holiday that she felt the importance of the holiday.
“Every other culture celebrates their roots and their culture, loud and clear; we should too,” she said.
