Local historian Mikal Barnes is helping to illuminate the significance of Juneteenth as Freedom Day, and is encouraging community members to attend a special 13th Amendment unveiling and discussion at St.

What happens to a holiday when its most beloved champion cannot join the celebration? On Thursday, hundreds still showed up for Opal’s Walk for Freedom, a 2.5-mile trek to celebrate Juneteenth. Sims, who led the walk, called herself the “granddaughter of Juneteenth.”

Before freedom rang for enslaved people in the 1800s, their journey brought many of them to Lake Erie's shores. Now, the lake serves as a reminder of how it was once a passport to freedom.