Photo essay: Philadelphia’s Juneteenth Parade and Festival highlights ‘Black excellence’ and ‘a celebration of our freedom’

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Thousands lined the sidewalks of 52nd Street in West Philadelphia on Sunday for this year’s Juneteenth Parade.

Floats, convertibles and music and dance performances were center stage for the annual celebration that marks when the last enslaved Black Americans were told they had been freed two years earlier by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, the first Black woman elected to the position, served as the parade’s grand marshal.

“I feel a great deal of humility, but also a great deal of responsibility,” Parker said during 6abc’s broadcast of the event. “Purpose, [and] passion becomes evident today … extremely grateful that we stand on the shoulders of a people who chose to survive despite some of the most inhumane challenges that one could imagine were here.”

Philly Girls Jump lit up the crowd outside of the Mann Center with their double dutch performance.

“It’s a celebration of culture and Black excellence, and double dutch is intertwined in the cultural fabric of Philadelphia,” said performer Tanisha Rinehardt.

Rinehardt said double dutch is “that nostalgic thing that draws people together.”

“Our mission is to not only empower the spirit of fun and joy, but to also build community,” Rinehardt said. “It’s a culmination of Black excellence. It’s a celebration of our freedom and celebration and homage to our ancestors, and we’re here just participating in the best way we know how — with our ropes.”

The Philadelphia Juneteenth Parade is the largest in the nation, with more than 25,000 people expected to attend every year. The first parade organized by the Pennsylvania Juneteenth Initiative took place in 2016.

Juneteenth was granted federal holiday status by President Joe Biden in 2021. The date commemorates the fall of slavery in Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 to free enslaved Black people held in the Confederacy.