For Terrance Taylor, Juneteenth is a day to celebrate the freedom gained by Black slaves and also to raise awareness of reparations for descendants of those slaves.

The Juneteenth holiday commemorates what happened on June 19, 1865, which was the day slaves in Galveston, Texas, heard from Union troops that the Civil War was over and that they were free. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021.

“We’re here to celebrate the meaning of Juneteenth, which is actually about the freeing of the last of the slaves in Galveston, Texas,” Taylor said Saturday just before he hopped into a Chevrolet Camaro for the Juneteenth motorcade that rolled from downtown East St. Louis to a Juneteenth block party at the Clyde C. Jordan Senior Citizen Center at 6755 State St.

“So I’m here to celebrate, and to actually, you know, move the needle forward. The needle forward, meaning reparations is our next move,” said Taylor, who is vice chair of the Illinois Juneteenth Committee.

Taylor added that his wife, Stephanie Taylor, is a board member of the Illinois African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission.

And on Wednesday, June 19, which is the federal holiday for Juneteenth, the Taylors plan to attend a Juneteenth celebration at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The Illinois African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission “has been tasked with developing and recommending measures to ensure equity, equality and parity for African American descendants of slavery,” according to a report by the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.

The reparations commission’s website lists several assignments for the group, including:

• Review and recommend actions geared toward the preservation and growth of African American neighborhoods and communities.

• Promote the building and developing a vocational center for People of African Descent-Citizens.

• Support proportional economic representation in all state contracts.