Don’t forget the significance of this flag. People had to fight for that.
To Margaret Henningsen, the bright, colorful Juneteenth flag isn’t just a pretty banner.
It’s a reminder of the blood, sweat and tears shed to make all people free.
“Don’t forget the significance of this flag,” said Henningsen, who is often hailed as the mother of Milwaukee's Juneteenth Day Celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. “People had to fight for that.”
Henningsen made her reminder on Tuesday, June 18, as Milwaukee Area Technical College students, faculty, staff and administrators gathered at MATC’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus to raise the Juneteenth flag.
Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865, when Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all slaves in the state were free. This announcement came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863.
The Juneteenth flag was designed in 1997 by Ben Haith, an activist and founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, and illustrated by Lisa Jeanne Graf. It is red and blue with a symbolic white star and sunburst in the middle, representing the bright beginnings of freedom for all.
“As a minority-majority institution, we understand the importance of the resilience, strength and cultural richness African Americans have added to our community,” Laquitha “Elle” Bonds, MATC’s vice president of human resources, said at the event. “Let us celebrate our progress but also remember the work we still need to do.”
The Juneteenth flags will fly at MATC until noon on Friday, June 21. The college celebrated the federal holiday on Wednesday, June 19, by participating in a citywide parade and sharing information about the college at a booth on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Milwaukee has celebrated Juneteenth for 53 years with parades, festivals, live music, dance performances, delicious cuisine, educational workshops and historical exhibitions.
What started as a modest block party has turned into a citywide celebration that attracts more than 100,000 people — the largest Juneteenth event in the nation, Henningsen said at the MATC ceremony.
Henningsen has seen Juneteenth become a federal holiday — a day off for all MATC employees — but the next step is to ensure everyone has the day off to celebrate, she said. “Just like the Fourth of July and Christmas,” she said.
As MATC staff raised the Juneteenth flag, the crowd sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the hymn widely considered to be the Black national anthem. Recent MATC graduate Gabrielle Armon-Wickers, vice president of the college’s Black Student Union, facilitated a moment of silence to honor the resilience and strength of ancestors.
Milwaukee poet, vocalist and musician Brit Nicole performed a spoken word poem called “My Black Is…”
Also at the event, Bonds announced the formation of the Black Excellence Leadership Alliance, a new affinity group for African American employees. Kylee Hayden, a student services specialist at the college, will be chairperson of the group.
In order for the Juneteenth flag to be raised, recently hung Pride flags were temporarily removed on June 18.
On June 10, MATC raised the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag in recognition of Pride Month at its Oak Creek Campus. The Pride flags will be returned on Friday, June 21, and fly until the end of June.
About MATC: Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.