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.
Ricardo Morris, founder and CEO of the festival, said the typically multi-day event was originally canceled because of the coronavirus. But with the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minnesota police officer, he felt his organization could put on a demonstration that celebrated the holiday, showed solidarity with those calling for change and kept people distant.
"It became imperative that Juneteenth be part of the protest," Morris said. "A demonstration and celebration."
Dozens of people lined the bridge Friday night with the red, black and green Black liberation flags that Morris's organization handed out. Flags hung from the scaffolding of the bridge, too.
With weeks of ongoing protests calling for the end of police brutality, Morris said this Juneteenth felt especially powerful and collective.
"It feels very different because the entire world is protesting and saying 'Black Lives Matter,'" Morris said.
Olympia Pierce, a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, said there is strength in community. Being able to march and pray together during the current difficult moment is powerful, she said.
"We've had so much tension, fear, anxiety in the months leading up to this with the virus and the shutdowns and the layoffs," Pierce said. "The people are looking to come together."
A protest and march was scheduled for the same time in Miller Park and protesters planned to march north across the bridge, through the flags to a Juneteenth celebration near Coolidge Park later Friday night.
Some businesses across the city also celebrated the holiday by giving employees the day off, and some restaurants were part of a food tour along the historic M.L. King Boulevard.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.
