Sen. Duckworth commemorates Juneteenth in Carbondale

CARBONDALE, Ill. (KFVS) - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth celebrated the Juneteenth holiday in Carbondale on Saturday, June 17.

According to a release from the senator’s office, Sen. Duckworth attended a breakfast hosted by Mayor Carolin Harvey at the African American Museum of Southern Illinois. After the breakfast, she joined the Carbondale community for their second annual Juneteenth parade.

Sen. Duckworth also visited the city’s Juneteenth block party on Friday, June 16.

“While Juneteenth became a federal holiday just two years ago, across neighborhoods, block parties and family gatherings, Black communities have long celebrated the day that, finally, marked the end of centuries of forced labor and abuse of Black Americans and their families through enslavement,” Sen. Duckworth said. “While I may not share that same heritage, I am thankful for the ways Black culture has repeatedly shaped and influenced our entire nation and I know that Black freedom, joy and lives matter.”

Juneteenth celebrates the day enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their emancipation, two years after the official abolition of the institution of slavery.