Juneteenth Kicking Off In Milwaukee With Parade And Street Festival

MILWAUKEE, WI — When Monday comes around in Milwaukee, residents will be quick to find a parade and scores of events to mark Juneteenth, the day that the word of freedom reached the final enslaved people in Texas after the Civil War.

The June 19 national holiday marks the day in 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, when word finally reached the last enslaved people in Texas that the Civil War had ended, and they were free. Also known sometimes as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, it's the oldest known celebration marking the end of America's peculiar institution.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making it a federal holiday, the first since the addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

Milwaukee is one of the top destinations to celebrate Juneteenth, U.S. News & World Report said in a story earlier this month. Now in its 52nd year, Milwaukee's festival dating back to the '70s is considered one of America's oldest, the report said.

For Milwaukee's celebration and parade this year, a theme was selected of "I Am Juneteenth."

If you can't make it to the parade but want to watch, it will be streamed by TMJ4 news. The parade starts at 9 a.m. and will follow a route from 14th and Atkinson then turn south at Five Points and end at Rose Park near MLK and Locust, TMJ4 wrote.

A street festival is also planned with vendors at the Northcott Neighborhood House, near Wright and 5th Streets. You can find information about the lineup planned at the group's website.

Related: What Is Juneteenth? Celebrating The End Of Slavery

Because Juneteenth is an official U.S. holiday, banks, federal offices and post offices in Wisconsin will be closed Monday.