(bright music) (lively music) (lively music continues) - Hey, everybody, I'm Earl Arms.

And I'm Uzezi Okwata.

- [Both] And we are here for Milwaukee's 55th Juneteenth celebration.

- Happy Juneteenth- - Happy Juneteenth Day.

- Being out here in the community, sharing the love with everybody.

- This is the Blackest holiday that's on the calendar.

I love it.

- [uzezi] The large parade, More vendors, and these uncertain political times, coupled with good weather, made this one of the most attended Juneteenth in Milwaukee history.

(people chattering) (festive street ambience) 91-year-old Reuben Harpole, one of Milwaukee's most known elders, was selected to be the Grand Marshal for the parade.

A retired army veteran, he's been a long-time supporter of community centers, and advocate for America's Black Holocaust Museum, and has raised money for many noteworthy cause.

- This is very important to me.

I've been working with the University of Wisconsin, and also with Dan Bader and the Bader Foundation, and we've accomplished quite a bit.

I had a program during the summer, where I had 105 boys that were going up to Campion High School and Ferguson, Wisconsin.

Many of them now are doctors and lawyers and accountants, and all over the country.

One's in Meridian, Mississippi, with doctors and nurses working for him.

The other one's in West Virginia, and his son's graduates from Morehouse with Dr.

King-Berger.

And he has working with his father.

So, I'd like to thank you all and Happy Juneteenth Day.

Thank you (audience applauding) (drums beating) ♪ Happy birthday ♪ ♪ Happy birthday, let's go ♪ - Hey!

- Let's go!

(upbeat drum music) (upbeat drum music continues) (crowd cheering) ♪ Happy Juneteenth ♪ ♪ When I say June ♪ ♪ You say teenth ♪ ♪ June ♪ ♪ Teenth ♪ ♪ June ♪ ♪ Teenth ♪ ♪ For a new world ♪ (festive street ambience) (crowd cheering) (festive street ambience) - Juneteenth, Juneteenth!

(festive street ambience) (upbeat drum music) (parader screams) (whistle trills) (upbeat drum music) (festive street ambience) - The (indistinct) Rebels are here!

- Happy Juneteenth!

- Happy Juneteenth!

(singer rapping) ♪ Oh, yeah, taking no losses ♪ ♪ Oh, you're making no (indistinct) ♪ (singer indistinct rapping) ♪ Save the world ♪ ♪ Save the world ♪ (crowd cheering) - In you go.

(festive street ambience) - Juneteenth!

- Juneteenth!

(group chanting) (everybody cheering) - [Parader] Happy Juneteenth, everybody!

- [Paraders] Happy Juneteenth!

- So, as we celebrate the City of Festivals, it's that theme in mind that we wanna recognize a city that celebrates together.

And in this case, that we're talking about, Summer Fest and Juneteenth.

Our collaboration is all about honoring the vibrant spirit of our city at the heart of Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration is Northcott Neighborhood House.

(audience cheering) Northcott hosts one of the longest-running Juneteenth festivals in the country.

It's now my honor to welcome Tony Kearney, Executive Director at Northcott Neighborhood House.

(upbeat music) (audience cheering) - Oh, thank you very much.

Sarah and I came together back in 2024 to talk about how we bring together two great festivals in a great city.

(hooters honking) When Summer Fest went to its three-weekend format, it fell on Juneteenth Day, which is the day we celebrate the freedom of all Americans.

When the last Americans in Galveston, Texas, found out they were actually free.

And I say Americans, because when we talk about Juneteenth, we're not talking about African American history, we're talking about American history.

I'm going to introduce you to some fabulous young people.

- Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Ava Sophia Garry, and I'm 2026 Little Miss Juneteenth.

- My name is Michael Terry Jr., and I am Little Mr.

Juneteenth Jr.

- Good afternoon, I am Jace White, and I am proud to serve as your 2026 Mr.

Juneteenth.

- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Gianna Cooks, and I am honored to act as your 35th Miss Juneteenth.

(audience cheering) - [Earl] This year, Milwaukee's Juneteenth founder spoke at Juneteenth opening ceremony.

- Juneteenth will continue in Milwaukee, and I want you to know that the Juneteenth celebration in Milwaukee is the first time a northern city ever celebrated Juneteenth.

I guess they didn't think any slaves were up here, but how wrong they were.

And we're showing them how wrong they are.

And to the people who have said that we can't get together and get along, I invite them to bring themselves down here to Juneteenth, and stand up on Burleigh, and look down at all of these beautiful people who are here celebrating our freedom.

(lively music) - Milwaukee's Juneteenth parade begins with reenactors of Wisconsin's 29th Regiment to remind us that African Americans also fought and died in the Civil War.

In fact, Black Americans have fought and died in every American war since the Revolution.

Crispus Attucks was the first man to fall in the Boston Massacre in 1770.

Yet stories of our participation in America's war efforts don't often get told.

Dr.

Marcus Allen, you're a professor of history.

Why don't our stories get told with more frequency?

- Well, one reason, I think, is Black dignity sometimes is a problem in American history.

A lot of the times, we are seen in a subservient way.

And when you know some of the stories in terms of us fighting an American Revolution or the Civil War, you know, some of the kinds of heroic acts and some of the courage, and some of the ways we fought, it undermines this idea of Black people being at the bottom and being in subservient roles.

But Blacks have fought in every war, in part because we have wanted to show our readiness for first-class citizenship, and also to show our affinity to America, The country of our birth.

So these are a few reasons.

- How do we... What is it we need to do to further promoting those kinds of stories?

- Well, for me personally, I think it starts at home.

You know, we need to culturally make sure that we're teaching our children.

You know, I would love if we had a better curriculum in the public school that taught Blacks Black, you know, that taught Black history.

But we need to be educating our young children about our history, about the courageous thing that Black men and women have done in history, such as fighting in every war.

I think it begins with us.

- For the last 55 years, Milwaukeeans have filled Martin Luther King Drive, excited to celebrate Juneteenth.

And this year is no different.

Today had an overall feel of togetherness and unity as people came together through music, dance, and good food.

So we talked to Mr.

Nelson's world-famous turkey legs and ribs every single year.

Mr.

Nelson, what you got this year?

- I love Juneteenth.

I am the man.

I'm the originator, I ain't the perpetrator.

- Show us what you got.

- Off the bone.

You shake it, it come off the bone.

- [Uzezi] Many of the vendors were operated by families.

What does that mean to you to be able to work together as a family, learn from your father, and you know, share positivity on a day like this?

- It's awesome because my dad, he grew up in a rough environment.

So when he got older, he decided to make a better environment for us to live in.

Recreated this business to show other Black people that they can do good.

- [Uzezi] What is the importance of you being here on Juneteenth today?

- I mean, it's a celebration to celebrate our freedom.

It's something that we celebrate.

It's a unification that you can see that brings the whole community together, not just community that, I mean, as far as the inner community, I mean the community as a whole, I mean, the city.

The city is the entire community.

So, when it brings everybody together like that and you see the unification, the love, the culture, it gives my kids, my grandkids, my family, something to look forward to in the future, and want to be a part of something like this.

They're amazing like this.

- [Uzezi] Food services were not the only vendors on site.

Many of the vendors were also centered around community service, creating a safer and more prosperous community.

- Big Brothers Big Sisters is a one-on-one mentoring program where we work with the youth, we partner and adult with a child, be it in school or in the community.

A lot of times, as adults, we can always complain about the kids are not doing this or the kids are not doing that, but a mentor that has made up in their mind, "I want to be a solution rather than talk about the problem."

So, if they say that the kids are doing something bad, rather than saying that, "Let me show them something good."

- [Uzezi] Along with food, music, and dance, laughter also oftentimes brings people together.

That's why this Juneteenth, there was a comedy show showcasing the youth and their comedic talents, - What school you go to, I'm not trying to go there.

- I believe comedy brings people together.

You know, like it's all about having fun while you're doing it.

Comedy can bring great smiles, and laughs, and great love.

Doing it on Juneteenth, bringing a comedy show to the Juneteenth Parade is a great, I should say, option to bring people together, you know, to enjoy it and have this fun.

(lively music) - Yes, indeed, we are here at Milwaukee's 55th annual Juneteenth celebration, and I am sitting here with a person who has been to Juneteenth five times in four years.

Yeah, do to math on that, right?

Frankie Jupiter is here with us, a morning anchor and journalist here in Milwaukee, here in his capacity as President of the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ's Milwaukee Chapter.

- Yeah.

- Frankie, thank you so much for being here.

- Hi, thanks for having me.

This is beautiful, it is a beautiful day.

The temperature's right, the breeze is nice, and just an amazing sight, as you mentioned, 55 years here of celebrating this.

One of the largest in the country, and just such a beautiful sight to see.

- So what's your favorite part about Juneteenth, whether it's here in Milwaukee, just the holiday in general?

- Honestly, the love.

The love of seeing everybody coming together, supporting this beautiful holiday, this celebration.

At one point, a friend of mine was 140th in the parade, (laughs) but it's kind of a reunion.

Some of the folks you see every other year.

So it's a great reunion.

So I look forward to this every year.

- So you were marching in the parade earlier with NABJ Milwaukee, so talk about the importance of journalism, the work that you do with NABJ Milwaukee, or just the work in general of journalists.

- You know, we serve and advocate for our journalists here in the Milwaukee area, but it's all definitely important.

Representation is the big thing here.

Representation matters, and I have had it growing up in New Orleans, and you've seen it here in Milwaukee, and being there for our journalists, educating folks, being in the community, that's what it's all about.

- Anything else you wanna share?

- Listen, we got a couple of things in NABJ Milwaukee.

We just wrapped up a Men's Health panel a couple of weeks ago, or a week ago, excuse me.

And just in a couple of weeks, we got our Men and Media panel that's gonna be coming up.

So look out to our social medias for that.

But yeah, a lot of them amazing things coming down the pipeline.

- Frankie Jupiter, thank you so much for being here with us.

- Thank you.

- All right, Happy Juneteenth.

- Happy Juneteenth.

- Sir.

(lively music) - When General Granger informed the last group of enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, that they were free on June 19th, 1865, the Civil War had been over for two months.

Over the next five years, Congress passed three congressional amendments that effectively ended slavery and defined US citizenship, not only for African Americans, but for anyone coming to America.

Joining us to discuss the Reconstruction Amendments are Professor Franciska Coleman from UW Madison Law School, who is joining us via Zoom.

And Dr.

Rob Smith, a history professor at Marquette University.

First of all, Happy Juneteenth, and welcome to Black Nouveau.

- Glad to be here, thank you, - Dr.

Smith, I wanna start with you.

For the people who may not remember their civics lesson, explain the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

- You know, collectively, the Reconstruction Amendments redefined the Constitution in very significant ways.

Obviously, the 13th Amendment brings a formal end to race-based slavery, acceptance, punishment for crime.

The 14th Amendment is this powerful statement about citizenship, and equal protection, and due process.

And the 15th Amendment provides some protections around voting, but that's a beleaguered history that I'm sure we'll get into.

Fundamentally, though, what they do is they give us this moment, whether the United States has to reckon with this question of whether it's gonna be a racial democracy or not, and what citizenship is supposed to mean, and what the meanings of freedom would look like.

And this all is contested terrain throughout the 19th century, the remainder of the 19th century, and throughout the 20 and into the 21st century.

- Dr.

Coleman, the 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the Birthright Citizenship.

Why has that become one of the most important constitutional provisions in American history?

- Well, I think it's similar to what Professor Smith said, which is the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, and also its provision for Birthright Citizenship changed America from an Apartheid Democracy, and it laid the foundation for America to be a multiracial democracy."

And this just kinda, this idea of America as a multiracial democracy is kind of foundational to the American experiment.

It's kind of what America is known for today.

And it also, through interpretation of these provisions, it also laid the foundation for an end to kind of subordination, right, and this kind of a caste system in America.

Because in the way that the 14th Amendment was interpreted, and the way that Equal Protection Clause was interpreted, it was interpreted to protect individuals who might be subject to kind of unfriendly and hostile legislation by the States based on a certain set of characteristics.

They started off being race, but then that was expanded to include, like, gender, religion, alienage.

And so, this kind of experiment in America with multiracial democracy is really founded on the Reconstruction Amendments.

- Dr.

Smith, even though the 15th Amendment said that "No one could be denied the right to vote based on race, Blacks still face obstacles that they still face today.

What does history tell us about the difference between having rights on paper and being able to exercise them?

- Well, what it tells you is that if there's indeed some kind of articulation of rights, people have to be vigilant about not only exercising those rights, but continually protecting those rights, and using the various legal and political means to do so.

And oftentimes, that requires drawing attention to an issue, particularly when rights are restricted in various ways that ought to be protected and guaranteed.

It then requires folks to then engage in a whole range of other practices, social movements, legal activity to make sure that indeed those rights get protected.

- This question is for both of you.

If you could leave viewers with one message about why the Reconstruction Amendments still matter in 2026, what would it be?

Dr.

Coleman, I'll start with you.

- Yeah, so the Reconstruction Amendments created kind of an irreducible minimum level of equality and equal protection.

And I think that's something that's very important to remember now, because at a time when you have retrenchment, right, and this idea that we're stepping back from our commitments, that there's only so far back, right, that we can step because of the Reconstruction Amendment.

So they do set a floor.

So they set a floor, which means there's only so much kind of backsliding we can do.

But because it's a floor, it also means in our states, we have something to build upon and we can actually increase those protections.

- Dr.

Smith.

- You know, a mentor of mine once said that "Reconstruction was not merely a specific historical time period, but the beginning of an extended historical process."

And we don't always know where we are in that process, but indeed, it is a process, and it is extended.

These amendments are continually valuable and critical.

They provide protections, but we have a responsibility to make sure that they do what we expect for those amendments to do.

We have to be vigilant.

(lively music) - We are at Juneteenth today.

What does that mean to me?

Freedom, courage.

- Unity in our community.

If you look around, you see all this activity, it's quite inspiring now, isn't it?

- Well, when I think about it, I think about a lot of peace.

We have seen how far we have come and how far we gotta go.

We are here at Dr.

Martin Luther King Junior School.

We just love the kids.

- You see, you look around you, you see all the familiar faces.

A lot of people in the crowd actually went to Dr.

King or Victor Berger.

You would be amazed how many people come to our table just to say hello to us.

And we really love that.

It's very important that we take a moment to think about our history at this time.

And even though we see a lot going around, going on in the world, we take this moment to think about, as she said, where we have come from.

- So I am representing our agency, which is Riverworks Development Corporation.

We are right here in Harambee.

We're right here in the community.

The Riverworks Development Corporation, its roots are here in Harambee, responding to the economic blight that happened when all of the auto plants, AMC, left the area in the '70s.

For us, this is just being with our neighbors, but also, we represent all of these folks in this community who stuck around, who didn't leave.

There are many of us who never left the Harambee neighborhood because we love this neighborhood.

We love the community, and we're proud Harambee residents, and Juneteenth itself, and I love this celebration because it gives all of us this opportunity to come together, enjoy, and fellowship, and celebrate not only Juneteenth, but celebrate each other.

- We are here at Juneteenth to show our organization Hope Street.

We've come every year.

We support our organization, Hope Street, and our Community Center checkup.

The best part, honestly, for us is that we get to be a part of this and see a lot of our kids that come to our community center.

So, all of our kids are from schools, they're dance teams or organizations.

And so all of us get to come together here and celebrate.

- We are here on MLK and Burleigh at Milwaukee's 55th Juneteenth Celebration.

And what's Juneteenth without Black Arts?

MKE in the building.

Two Familiar folks to the Black Nouveau set.

Sheri Williams Pannell, Barbara Wanzo, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you.

- Absolutely.

Talk about your favorite part about Juneteenth.

What's your favorite part about Juneteenth?

- My favorite part about Juneteenth is the reunion.

You take two steps, and you run into someone that you've known from high school, from grade school, especially if you're a Native Milwaukeean, it's like a reunion.

And the food, the colors, well, there's so much to love about Juneteenth, and the history.

55 years.

- Amen.

- Anything to add to that?

- I would agree with Sheri, but I think, for me, being born and raised here, it's about family, right?

Whether you're related, actually, or not, it's about family.

And I love the kids.

Oh my God, there's so much.

And for me, coming from Black Arts MKE, the kids, there's just so much great talent.

I see the future, I see opportunities out there, and that's really satisfying for me.

- And I have to say the Miss Juneteenth of last year is a Black Arts MKE kid.

- Yeah.

- The ensemble and also Black Arts MKE.

So it's wonderful to see the training, and it manifesting in such a wonderful way, the Juneteenth celebration.

- Will she be at the festival?

Will we see her there?

- Oh, oh, yes, absolutely.

- Okay, talk more about that.

Talk more about what's going on.

- So the MKE Theater Festival this year is the 12th of August through the 29th.

- Mm-hmm.

- That's right.

- And if you can imagine three weeks of a musical, a new musical, "Vel and Groppi, In the Deep Tracks," about the friendship of Vel Phillips and Father Groppi.

And the music, the deep tracks were the eight-track, right, was the music of that, how the music was produced during that time, and shared.

So it's a really exciting experience.

Poetry, an evening of wonderful poetry.

There's dance, there are workshops, and panel discussions.

So yes, we are ready to share an exciting festival with our community.

And at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society.

- There it is, okay.

And before that, though, Barbara, talk about the theater camp that you have going for the kids, too.

- Yes, this is our eighth annual, I think, performing arts camp for kids.

It starts July 1 through the 31st.

Ages 12 to 18.

And it's free to the community.

We do it for the community.

And then, there's a culminating performance for friends and family at Peck Pavilion down at the Market Center on the 31st.

- All right, I'd like to look forward to, thank you so much for joining us, and Happy Juneteenth, again.

- Happy Juneteenth, Milwaukee and- - Black Nouveau.

- Amen.

- Thank you.

As the nation celebrates Juneteenth, a new landmark opens just 90 miles south of Milwaukee, right here on the South Side of Chicago.

The Obama Presidential Center opens, of course, as the nation celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, connecting a defining moment in African American history and the legacy of the nation's first Black president.

Center leaders say they want this to be more than just a place for tourism.

They want it to be a place of community, civic engagement, and a reflection of the continuing journey toward opportunity and democracy.

- What the Obama Presidential Center represents, again, is that aspiration that you can be a change-maker, and what better way to inspire people to be those types of change-makers than to celebrate it on a day that is so significant and is so related to who we are as a country, and the greatness of our country, and what we have the ability to be going forward.

- [Earl] The center has five levels, each contributing its own part to the legacy of former President Obama and his former First Lady.

It sits on a campus with Obama's presidential library, outdoor green space, and even a regulation basketball court.

All of this done in the name of accessibility.

- [John] The diversity of the art, the diversity of the programming that happened there, the Easter Egg roll that occurred on the lawn, the science presentations, the STEM presentations that happened at the White House.

All of that was intentional.

And I think that what we wanted to be able to demonstrate here at the Obama Presidential Center is to be as intentional about telling that story.

(vibrant music) - All right, as we wrap up another Juneteenth, Uzezi, you were the boots on the ground.

Talk about your experience.

- Man, today, I really saw a lot of togetherness and unity when it came to this Juneteenth, whether it be the food, it be the music, there was a lot of dancing.

There was a comedy show as well that showcased some of the kids' comedic talents, really funny.

That also brought people together through laughter.

So today was all about unity and celebrating 161 years of freedom.

- 55 years of doing it right here in Milwaukee.

- That's right.

- So on behalf of all of us here at Black Nouveau, I'm Earl Arms saying thank you so much for joining us, and again, Happy Juneteenth.

- Happy Juneteenth.

(people chattering)