November 17, 2024
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Diversity Committee will commemorate Juneteenth celebration Saturday

By Rachel Rodgers
Rashaad Lane of Sterling (left), a member of the Diversity Committee of the Sauk Valley, hugs Jesse Noyes of Dixon following a discussion about equality during Friday's Juneteenth celebration on the Dixon Riverfront. The Diversity Committee of the Sauk Valley hosted two ice cream socials, one in Dixon and the other at the YWCA in Sterling, to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Texas learned, 2 years after the fact, that slavey had been abolished in the United States.

Rashaad Lane of Sterling (left), a member of the Diversity Committee of the Sauk Valley, hugs Jesse Noyes of Dixon following a discussion about equality during last year's Juneteenth celebration on the Dixon Riverfront. The Diversity Committee of the Sauk Valley hosted two ice cream socials, one in Dixon and the other at the YWCA in Sterling, to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Texas learned, 2 years after the fact, that slavey had been abolished in the United States.

STERLING - The Diversity Committee of the Sauk Valley is having a Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates when all enslaved black people learned they were free 156 years ago.

While the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the South in 1863, it wasn’t enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War two years later. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach all enslaved black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas.

The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the YWCA of the Sauk Valley, 412 First Ave. in downtown Sterling

The event is scheduled to include information regarding Juneteenth, a variety of vendors and free food. In case of inclement weather, the event will be moved inside.

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Rachel Rodgers

Rachel Rodgers

Rachel Rodgers joined Sauk Valley Media in 2016 covering local government in Dixon and Lee County.