ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—The city of Englewood held its annual Juneteenth celebration June 13–16, to commemorate a monumentally important event for the United States: the abolition of slavery.
Although President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was enacted on Jan. 1, 1863, it wasn’t officially acknowledged until June 19, 1865. That’s when Major Gen. Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas, to inform a reluctant community that President Abraham
Lincoln more than two years earlier had freed the slaves and to press locals to comply with his directive.
On that day, Granger announced “General Order No. 3,” confirming that enslaved African Americans throughout the former Confederate States of America were free.
According to Juneteenth.com, there are different accounts as to why there was a delay more than two years for slaves to be officially freed. Some say it was because the messenger was murdered on his way to Texas with the news, while others say the news was deliberately withheld by greedy slave owners who did not want to relinquish their human property.
The celebration of June 19, 1865, became known as Juneteenth, or Juneteenth Independence Day, and the name is derived from “June” and “Nineteenth.”
Currently, a little more than half of the U.S. states acknowledges Juneteenth in some form or another. New Jersey celebrates Juneteenth Independence Day thanks to the late state Sen. Byron Baer of Englewood, who championed legislation to recognize it in 2004.
In Englewood, Juneteenth is paid tribute in spectacular fashion. This year, beginning on June 13, the city began a four-day-long Juneteenth carnival and on June 15, there was a ceremony at Soldiers Monument on Palisade Avenue, followed by a parade leading to the carnival in Depot Square.
This year’s annual Juneteenth celebration, the city’s 26th, was organized by Lt. Joe Hoyle, a lifelong resident of Englewood and member of Englewood’s Chapter of the Jabari Society, an international association of black firefighters that supports fellow firemen and enriches the community. The Jabari Society, under the direction of Hoyle, has hosted the city’s elaborate Juneteenth celebration every year since it began.
The tribute on June 15 at Soldiers Monument was attended by many dignitaries, including Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton, Freeholder Mary Amoroso, and Englewood Council members Katharine Glynn, Charles Cobb and Wayne Hamer.
Lining the streets around the monument were several marching bands and cheerleading squads, including the Hillside Showtime Strutters, the Englewood Junior Raiders, the Malcom X Shabazz High School Band from Newark and the Golden Knights Marching Band, as well as Englewood Girl Scout troops.
Hoyle welcomed the crowd of spectators and introduced the elected officials as well as Parade Coordinator Michele Dark and Juneteenth parade grand marshal Phyllis Brown-Edwards.
Brown-Edwards thanked the Jabari Society and the community for naming her Grand Marshal.
“I do not take it lightly,” she said. “It is truly an honor and a privilege.”
Hoyle then thanked three special guests—the wife, daughter and granddaughter of Englewood’s Senator Byron Baer, who enacted legislation to recognize Juneteenth in New Jersey in 2004.
An invocation was given by Rev. Edna Dismus and the National Anthem was sung by Raymond and Kim Larkin.
Shelley Washington, the Juneteenth Scholarship Committee chair, gave an overview of the history of Juneteenth. She said that in the spirit of giving back to the community, they held a scholarship essay contest about the occasion for high school students and selected three winners. Two of the three—Tiffany Tory and Daijia Canton—were able to attend the ceremony and they proudly received their scholarship certificates.
Hoyle also recognized all the members of the African American Advisory Committee of Bergen County collectively and the Juneteeth Committee.
A highlight of the ceremony was the dramatic speech delivered by Mayor Wildes that paid tribute to the history of Juneteenth and honored the achievements of African Americans both in Englewood and in the United States at large.
Wildes recalled, “We must remember the cost of lives not only during the Civil War (in which 500,000 Union soldiers died) but in the ensuing century when African Americans and allies fought for equality and paid with their lives. Leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X; idealists such as James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who were murdered for their involvement in the Freedom Rides of 1964; and innocent children like Addie Mae Collins, Carol McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who were victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963.
“Even now, in the 21st century, when countless African American men are unjustly incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States, when innocent African Americans are gunned down for no other reason than the color of their skin—we recognize the struggle against and the lives lost as a result of the racism that often plagues our country,” Wildes said. “We must honor those who came before us by continuing their legacy. We must vow to keep moving forward, to keep fighting for the ideals that fueled them and their cause.”
Wildes called for a moment of silence “For all the African Americans including the Tuskegee Airmen, who lived, slept and wept in the city of Englewood, who lost their lives fighting for the most important tenet of our country—‘that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”
Following Wildes, Amoroso, Glynn and Cureton also made brief remarks about the importance of Juneteeth.
“So many of our ancestors came to America against their will and were treated as property,” Amoroso said. “Juneteenth marked the turning point when slaves finally understood that they were free, but the promise of that remains to be fulfilled. Racism today is real and we all need to fight against it! We in Bergen County are with you.”
Sheriff Cureton, whose hometown is Englewood, urged everyone to realize that African American history is American history and, “We don’t necessarily have to celebrate Juneteenth only on one day a year. Every day should be Juneteenth!”
Following the speeches, Hoyle brought all the Englewood council members to present a resolution recognizing Juneteenth, after which the Juneteenth flag was hoisted up the Liberty Pole next to Soldiers Monument to fly next to the American flag and the POW-MIA flag. Hoyle announced that there would also be an official Juneteenth flag raising in front of City Hall on Thursday, June 20.
Keynote speaker Jay Johnson gave a historical overview of pre-emancipation America, the Reconstruction era from 1865 to 1877 and the Juneteenth spirit in modern times that was championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The ceremony ended with a rendition of “God Bless America” by Raymond and Kim Larkin and a benediction by Rev. Edna Dismus, followed by an elaborate parade up Palisade Avenue to Depot Square. A police honor guard, marching bands and cheerleading squads escorted a vintage 1936 Auburn convertible carrying Grand Marshal Brown-Edwards who waved exuberantly to the crowd, concluding a tribute filled with pomp and passion.
