Part of the festivities in Evansville for the first celebration of Juneteenth as a national holiday included a special tribute at Bosse Field.
The Negro Leagues of professional baseball and the legendary Express slow-pitch softball team that dominated regional games and tournaments in the 1970’s and 80’s were showcased before and during the Evansville Otters game against the Windy City Thunderbolts.
Singing the Black national anthem was Indiana State University professor Kandace Hinton, followed by the national anthem, which was sung by Evansville native Unique Stanfield.
Stanfield said she had some butterflies about singing the anthem for the first celebration of Juneteenth as a national holiday. “It means so much to me. I never knew that I would be singing in a stadium of people, especially African-American people. It’s an honorable day and I’m just delighted that I could do this today.”
The Juneteenth celebration at Bosse Field was held in conjunction with the Evansville African American Museum.