This Friday, June 19, Milwaukee marks 55 years of celebrating Juneteenth Day.
Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger and his troops traveled to Galveston, Texas, to issue General Order No. 3. It announced that enslaved Black Americans had been freed from bondage.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. It became an official City of Milwaukee holiday one year later.
Milwaukee has one of the country’s longest-running Juneteenth celebrations, and was the first city in the north to commemorate the holiday.
Margaret Henningsen is one of the reasons why. She sat down with WUWM to share the story of early efforts to recognize Juneteenth in Milwaukee.
There are at least two moments in 79-year-old Henningsen’s life that served as catalysts for her role in bringing Juneteenth celebrations to Milwaukee.
One of them was a family trip to Perry, Georgia in the early 1960s.
She didn’t like the “racial etiquette” Black people were expected to maintain in the Jim Crow south – like Black people moving off the sidewalk so white people could pass.
Henningsen shared her frustration with her great-grandmother.
"And I said, 'Why they getting off the sidewalk?' And she said, 'Because that’s what we’re supposed to do.' I said, 'I’m not getting off the sidewalk,' you know just running my mouth like I usually do. When they went by, I said, 'You people down here don’t even know who you are.'"
That was the first time Henningsen’s great-grandmother told her about Juneteenth.
Fast forward to her college years in the mid-to-late 1960s. Henningsen remembers frustration with systemic oppression of Black people reached a boiling point, and many took to the streets to protest.
Henningsen says it was no different in Milwaukee.
"The mayor at that time was Mayor Henry Maier and he decided to call in the National Guard, and it was really bizarre because by then my parents owned a home right off of 11th and Capitol, and I was standing on the corner watching the National Guard go down Capitol Drive, and I’d never seen anything like that before and it really left a lasting impression on me," Henningsen says.
At that time, Henningsen was deep in civic engagement, doing things like registering Black people to vote, helping them access resources, and promoting Black pride. Henningsen even participated in Milwaukee’s open housing marches across the 16th Street viaduct.
"It was this young girl standing on the curb near where I was marching, and she ran out in the street and she had her hand drawn back like this, and you know it clicked in my brain: that girl is getting ready to throw something at me," Henningsen remembers.
When Henningsen turned to walk away, the girl yelled “n-word get off my bridge,” and threw an egg at Henningsen, just barely missing her head. Henningsen says that experience took her breath away.
That night, Henningsen told her grandmother that Black people shouldn’t have to demonstrate and march for what’s rightfully ours. She even questioned God.
"And she looked at me and said, 'You know what?' And I said, 'What?' She said, 'That’s why he put you here.'"
By 1971, Henningsen was working at Northcott Neighborhood House in Milwaukee, and those experiences would come full circle. The staff was looking for ways to engage the Black community.
"So, I said, 'You know, my grandmother told me one time that there was some kind of document out there that said we were free and that people celebrate that. Does anybody in here know anything about Juneteenth?' Not one hand went up."
So, Henningsen did some research. Then she joined forces with her Northcott colleague and friend, Jan Kemp, to learn from other cities’ Juneteenth celebrations.
"We could only find a few places we knew of that were actually outwardly celebrating Juneteenth," Henningsen says. "Some people from the south who were familiar with it said that a lot of Juneteenth celebrations were sort of incognito, and I think it had a lot to do with the conversation I had with my grandmother where she said Black people down there knew they weren’t free, but they weren’t gonna throw it in the white folks’ face."
Henningsen and Kemp led most of the organizing to make Juneteenth Day happen in Milwaukee.
Henningsen says the event promotion was mainly word-of-mouth.
Additionally, Henningsen says Kemp had connections with local entertainment, the late journalist, Bill Taylor promoted the event on his show Positively Milwaukee, local Black DJs Dr. BOP & Dr. O.C. White supported and local businesses like Gimbels Department Store agreed to be sponsors.
"We had to go to alderpeople — which were almost all white — except for Ben Johnson. And the county, same thing. The mayor’s office, same thing. Trying to get them to understand the significance of Juneteenth."
Henningsen says organizers proceeded with event plans before official approval.
"We told people 'Yeah, c’mon, everything’s good. Bring your tables, your chairs, your food.' People had grills the first couple years," Henningsen laughs. "It was just their own grills, and they brought their own food."
And though Henningsen says there was a brief debacle over street closures – and a bout of rain – nearly 3,000 people showed up for the first Juneteenth Day celebration in 1971. The festivities lasted until midnight.
Henningsen says she knew the event resonated with people, because afterwards several young Black men hugged and thanked her and Kemp and asked if it would happen again.
Henningsen says that’s one of her favorite memories.
"That’s why we did Juneteenth," Henningsen says. "We were trying to get people to see that our community is not what they think it is. That it’s good. We want all of our people, including the Black people, to see how wonderful we are."
More information about Milwaukee's Juneteenth event can be found here.
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