NORWALK, Conn. — The afternoon began with cloudy skies and drizzle on Norwalk Green, sending attendees under umbrellas and tents as they turned out for the First Taxing District’s Juneteenth celebration. As the sun broke through, some saw it as a fitting symbol of resilience that marks the day.
General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with Union troops and informed enslaved African Americans that they were free. This date is significant because Texas was the last Confederate state where the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced, two years after it was passed. As such, Juneteenth is a combination of June and nineteenth, with the first celebrations occurring one year later in 1866 in Texas, focusing on church and community. It was not until 2021 that former President Joe Biden signed a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
In Norwalk, the Juneteenth celebration drew residents, local and state leaders, vendors, and visitors from nearby towns, all of whom reflected on what the day represents. From the importance of education, cultural pride, and unfinished work, attendees offered their perspectives.
Interviews have been edited for length and condensed for clarity and conciseness.
Diane Jellerette, 60+, Executive Director of the Norwalk Historical Society Museum
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Freedom. Freedom Day is remembering all the emancipation of our slaves and freedom for all people of color.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Freedom is not being afraid to walk down the street and worrying about whether you’re going to be attacked or picked up because of the way you look.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
We’re not ever going back to the times of slavery, that was just a very horrendous era, and we learn from the past so that we don’t try to repeat it in the future, and to embrace everyone.
Anna Marie Mitchell, 57, Outreach Coordinator for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunity and Michael Mitchell, 58, Executive Storekeeper for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunity
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Anna: We actually get the opportunity to practice a little bit more of ourselves.
Michael: Freedom. It means the first day that that they said we were free. And from there was the start of a progress, a beginning.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Anna: Real freedom means that I am providing a better future for my grandson. His generation is going to have to correct everything that’s been disassembled. I’m trying to put us all, at least on the same equity and equality platform.
Michael: Freedom means being able to vote. Freedom means being able to live where I want to live at. Freedom means being able to go into a bank and get a loan where they don’t look at me different. Freedom is being your own person and having your own direction. And you don’t have to take two left-hand turns and make a circle and never go anywhere.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
Anna: That the next generation can come together as one.
Michael: They pick it up as they’re young, and then they put it into their MO, their way of life that they live.
Nicole Taxiltaridis, 44, Founder and Chief Designer of Balm of Gilead Handcrafted by Nicole Taxiltaridis
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
There is a Ghanaian word called sankofa. And what that means is, in order for us to move forward, you have to be able to look back and know your history. That is how I see today.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Freedom for me is the ability to dream, the ability to move forward in the way that I see and want in my life and in others’ lives, other African Americans, without hindrances, whether that’s structurally or in any other place in society.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
Hearkening back to that sankofa, you have to be able to look back to know where your people came from, in order to know then how should I then charter my way moving forward that gives you a sense of pride, that gives you a sense of direction, that gives you a sense of self identity.
Margaret Walker, 58, Attorney and Author of Ninzi’s Secret
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Juneteenth is an opportunity for everybody to come out and celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans. It obviously commemorates the day the last enslaved African Americans were notified that the Emancipation Proclamation had passed. So, it marks that, but also all the accomplishments that we’ve made from that moment forward. And it’s a time just to come out and celebrate and enjoy all of the culture and all of the creativity and the ingenuity of Black Americans.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
It means the ability, the opportunity, to be who you are, to be your genuine self, and to not be judged by it, but just to be embraced for who you are and anything and everything that you bring to the table. And that’s just not for African Americans. That’s for all of us, however you identify, but just to feel safe and to feel celebrated for who you are.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
I hope the next generation can appreciate all of the hard work it took to get us here and understand that the work isn’t ever over.
Shahine Saunders, 17, Student, and from Tropical Island Spice, and Shanae Saunders, 15, Student, and from Tropical Island Spice
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Shahine: I feel like Juneteenth means, like, a way to celebrate Black people and the abolishing of slavery and finding freedom and it’s important to remember that day.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Shahine: Being able to go out and express yourself without any judgment from anyone.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
Shahine: I hope they understand that it’s important to remember the past and how it still affects some people who were alive during that time. Like our grandma, she was alive during the Civil Rights movement. And it’s important to show them there’s a change.
Johana Sanchez, 31, Baker at Joma Bakery
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
It’s being here and celebrating everything African Americans have achieved, everything they have done for us.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Real freedom means that you get to do what you want, but without harming anyone else. You get to express yourself, or do what you want, or be yourself, but always have the limit that you are not doing anything that is dangerous.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
I want them to understand everyone who has been fighting for our rights and for us to be able to do what we want again. Just keep doing it in a safe and nice way, so you’re not harming anyone around you. You’re free to say what you want and do what you want, but always respect everyone around you.
Arleny Abreu, 18, Owner of Mindful Couture
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Juneteenth means to be free, to celebrate freedom and be with the community.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Freedom, for me, means to be authentic and literally just being your authentic self, without any judgment.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
I hope the next generation really appreciates their freedom, the privilege that we have now and really just honors their ancestors for what our ancestors had to go through. The black ancestors had to go through, African Americans had to go through and really just being grateful and being present with our community.
Yadira Hackney, 32, Owner of Kulture Crowns
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Community, culture, heritage.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
To be honest, we’re not even really free. So I can’t even answer that.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
The truth behind everything and not what’s being told, but the actual truth and what really happened to us.
Senator Bob Duff, 54, Norwalk’s First Lady, Lucia Rilling, 62, and Norwalk’s Mayor, Harry Rilling, 77.
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Senator Duff: Having holidays like Juneteenth give us an opportunity to come together to understand the impact of slavery to us here in this country, what it did to us, how it still impacts us and to continue to fight for a better country – a country that that is more inclusive, that that is more equal and that is has more racial tolerance to it. We have a great country that we live in now but it is one that is not perfect and that can always strive to be better.
Mayor Rilling: It’s an opportunity for everybody to celebrate the end of slavery in our country. And it has, it has meaning for everybody, just not the African American people. It has meaning for everybody who understands what freedom is all about and how important it is for people to be free.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Senator Duff: Real freedom means a country where people have opportunities, where they have a chance to be whatever they want to be, that people start off at a level that is equal to others, that people aren’t put in a particular place because of their income or how they grow up, or their race.
Mayor Rilling: Real freedom means to be able to live my life without encroaching upon anybody else or having them encroach upon me, just making the ability to raise my family to have a happy life and to be able to walk in freedom and not be afraid.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
Senator Duff: I hope that there’s a lot more awareness, unlike myself, and that we are a better nation that is more racially just, more racially tolerant, and one that looks through life in a more inclusive way.
Mayor Rilling: A lot of the next generation is here. I hope they understand the same thing that I was just saying, that freedom is a blessing. There are many people around the world that aren’t free and you know, we should be very blessed that we’re living in this country right now and that we have freedom.
Dr. Julia Moore, 47, CEO of Young Ladies Taking Responsibility And Portraying Proper Educational Development (YLTRAPPED)
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Culture. It’s our day to celebrate, motivate, and inspire each other. Have hope.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Being like this outside. Freedom is being able to congregate together, being able to go places and not be stereotyped, and not to feel uncomfortable, to be comfortable.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
What we’re helping is to get them to understand is that, look around, there are people that care, there are people that understand and there are good people here. Everyone’s not mean. No one is the mean guy. But we’re teaching them to, again, stay motivated and be inspired by others. And today means a lot to see everyone out here again, congregating and learning about culture.
State Representative Kadeem Roberts and Common Councilman Jalin Sead Sr., 32
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
Roberts: Juneteenth for me, truly means just getting what was given, what was supposed to be mine, fighting for, you know, freedom, but most importantly, just honestly, this is a date that should have been given to us.
Sead Sr.: Freedom, like, that’s the work that’s been going on. But like this song [A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke], there’s a lot of work to be done. Continue to build on the strength and the work that people that we stand on your shoulders, and that’s where somebody like me and Kadeem, we’re two of the youngest guys doing this, just kind of build it up and bring up the new people.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Roberts: My freedom is giving back to my community and helping to make sure I elevate them to the next level.
Sead Sr.: True freedom means that everybody can live, go to school, get an education, and be who they are without any racism, being enslaved or anything like that.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
Roberts: I’m at the Capitol, so all I could keep doing is creating laws that affect my people. This past session, I created a bill that you can’t handcuff kids under 14. I use my voice as who I am and my vision for my community.
Sead Sr.: That the work continues. We said on Martin Luther King, it’s not just a day off, it’s a day that we got to continue to just keep working and building on it. Freedom is not just a statement. It’s a word that we got to continue to put the action to.
Romney Donald, 38, Founder of Black Voices for Empowerment and Progress
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
It really means community. It means history. It means learning where we started. It’s more about us coming together and just being here, feeling what freedom is about.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Real freedom means that I can be authentically myself 100%. It’s being able to go where I want to go, say what I want to say, do the things that I want to do, without having to think about the systems that are around me that are impacting me every single day, outside of my control.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
I want the future generations to know that they have support and that we’re gonna lead with empathy. We want them to come in ask questions because that’s okay to ask questions. I want them to feel like this is a safe space and that we are inviting them in.
Laura Smits, 67, Co-convener of the League of Women Voters of Norwalk
What Does Juneteenth Mean to You?
This is what America is about. America was built on the backs of Black people, so the fact that they were finally emancipated in 1865 is amazing. I think it’s important that we acknowledge Black history as part of American history, and we all need to acknowledge that and embrace it.
What Does Real Freedom Mean to You?
Keeping your government out of your life, keeping it off your body, letting you love who you love. And government should be there to help everyone level the playing field and make it so that everybody can pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
What Do You Hope the Next Generation Understands About This Day?
History matters, and we can’t ignore history. We need to embrace our history and move on, and bring everybody together so that we all understand our history and understand the importance of everybody’s history.
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