Seasonal & Holidays
Celebrations And Commemorations Held For Juneteenth Around Chicago
Around Chicago Wednesday, Juneteenth was a family affair with food, fun, and games—but also history lessons for all generations.
June 20, 2024
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago and the nation on Wednesday celebrated Juneteenth—a day that commemorates the end of slavery, and is still being celebrated and now recognized 159 years later.
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The origins of Juneteenth date back to June 19, 1865, when the last group of people enslaved in the southern U.S. were informed of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. That day, thousands of Union soldiers reached Galveston Bay, along the northeastern coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico, and announced that all enslaved people in the state were freed by executive order.
Juneteenth National Independence Day became a legal public holiday in 2021, passed almost unanimously through both chambers of Congress before being signed by President Joe Biden.
