African American history needs to be told and retold, according to Sylvia England, founder and executive director of the African American Museum at England Manor in Waukegan. That’s why she is partnering with Waukegan school, park, library and township districts to present the second annual Juneteenth Journey free and open to the public.

The journey, beginning in 15-minute increments on June 18, at the Waukegan History Museum, will take groups of 15 in vans to visit Lake County sites that tell the history of the African American in the city as well as the nation. Online registration is required.

England, a former Waukegan schoolteacher, said all races and creeds need to learn about the history of African Americans. She’s particularly concerned that young African Americans learn about slavery and emancipation in America. “They don’t understand the history their ancestors came through,” she said.

Juneteenth, short for June 19, marks the day when federal troops freed slaves from Texas in 1865. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021.

The two-hour Juneteenth Journey, led by guides, will take visitors to the African American Museum, Waukegan’s oldest African American church and the Mother Rudd home in Gurnee, among other places where history will be told and artifacts will be shown. Participants are welcome to add their own stories and information as they did last year, England said.

Arriving in front of the Mother Rudd Home Museum, participants will learn about the Underground Railroad, where slaves were hidden so they would not be arrested and sent back to slavery. The home served as an inn on Milwaukee Avenue in the 1800s. The owners were part of the abolitionist movement, and the inn was most likely used as a stopover for the Underground Railroad. Visitors will view the barn where slaves were likely hidden.

England says the museum she runs and where she also lives also was a stop on the Underground Railroad. After she bought the house built in 1859, she discovered a double wall in her basement.

U.S. law back then stated even if slaves were in states like Illinois that did not condone the practice, they could be taken back into slavery, England said. She moved the double wall and found a dugout where fugitive slaves in Waukegan easily could have been taken, she said.

The Juneteenth Journey will take visitors into the museum where they’ll see exhibits about runaway slaves, anti-slavery efforts, abolitionists, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement.

Besides touring the two museums, participants also will visit Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church, where parishioners are involved in ministry and helping others. Some stories are not as well-known as that of the Underground Railroad in Lake County, and England plans to relay those during the Juneteenth Journey.

For example, the vans will stop at Whittier School in Waukegan, where participants will learn that 1865, according to historical accounts, school boundaries were drawn so mostly Black students attended Whittier School, while mostly white students attended the surrounding schools.

A group of Whittier parents and activists from the Waukegan chapter of the NAACP took the matter to court and in 1965, and in 1968, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the school district to redraw its boundaries.

“We’ll also talk about the renaming of Webster Middle School and Jefferson School,” England said. Both schools’ namesakes were tied to slavery. The new names are Smith and Lewis schools, to honor two civil rights supporters.

“There’s a ton of history we’ll uncover about the South Side of Waukegan,” England added.

Roughly 175 people attended last year’s inaugural Juneteenth Journey, and England expects the same size if not larger.

“We’re taking the information and putting it together in a meaningful way,” England said. “I feel like I get a chance to touch the future. I get a chance to open up the dialogue.”

Juneteenth Journey

When: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. June 18

Where: Waukegan History Museum, 1917 Sheridan Road, Waukegan

Tickets: Free, preregistration required

Information: 224-409-3421; eventbrite.com and search Juneteenth Journey

Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.