Around 150 people gathered Friday night to walk south across the Walnut Street Bridge in celebration of Black freedom as part of a series of Juneteenth events in the city.
The group stopped, prayed and sang near what will be the future Ed Johnson Memorial, which will recognize the 1906 lynching of the 24-year-old.
J. Anthony Taylor, pastor of Greater Community Church of Chattanooga, told the crowd the history of the holiday and how on June 19, 1865, the final slaves in Texas were told of their freedom and the end of chattel slavery in the United States.
“We’re celebrating our heritage,” Taylor said. “We’re celebrating our families. And we’re celebrating the slaves that built this country.”
The Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas coordinated the event in partnership with the Divine Nine, a group of alumni from nine historically black sororities and fraternities.