All the reasons and places to celebrate Juneteenth

By Eileen Ogintz
Tribune Content Agency
Taking the Kids

The message took a long time to get to the destination. More than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and months after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Union troops finally arrived in Galveston, Texas, announcing the end of slavery. It was June 19, 1865.

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” Major General Gordon Granger read. That order effectively freed 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas.

Celebrations started soon after with an organized Jubilee Day in Texas the following year. As families migrated across the country, celebrations spread with prayer services, and public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. Celebrants ate red-colored foods (think: red beans and rice, okra with tomatoes, red velvet cake, watermelon) that traditionally symbolize resilience and joy. There was a lot of music and dancing.

A joyful family gathering around the kitchen table for a meal, fostering togetherness and celebration. Photo by August de Richelieu — Photo by August de Richelieu

The “Juneteenth” holiday was an important part of African American culture, but until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, it wasn’t widely celebrated outside the Black communities, mostly because of Jim Crow segregation.

In 1980, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday, and on June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making June 19 an official federal holiday.

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Juneteenth today is celebrated across the country with parades, music festivals, traditional foods and street parties that draw thousands.

The newly finished Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, a museum, library and education project, is officially opening June 19. It includes a grand opening weekend complete with free live performances, family-friendly activities, food, art and storytelling across the expansive campus on Chicago’s South Side.

The Museum Tower at the Obama Presidential Center is seen in Chicago, on June 3, 2026. The dedication ceremony for the center will take place on June 18, 2026, and will open to the public on the following day on the Juneteenth holiday. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., is celebrating throughout June, including giving a much-deserved shout out to Opal Lee, considered the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” A Texas educator, she was instrumental in the effort to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Starting in 2016, when she was 89, Lee began walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., – 2.5 miles a day to symbolize the two and a half years enslaved people in Texas waited to learn they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Along the way, she gathered a petition with 1.5 million signatures to present to Congress. (Explore the museum’s digital Juneteenth toolkit.)

At the museum’s Juneteenth Community Day, Lee will be honored as she celebrates her 100th birthday later this year.

There will be a Juneteenth Cookout Playbook exploring how to plan Juneteenth cookouts inspired by Lee’s favorite dishes, highlighting food as an expression of heritage and community, art making with the color red, music and more.

The museum will also debut two new fine arts exhibitions Friday, June 12, “Revelation: A Journey into Abstraction” and “Reset: Abstraction Embodied in Design.” Together, the exhibitions explore how abstraction has shaped African American artistic expression across painting, sculpture, printmaking, furniture, textiles and lighting.

Juneteenth celebrations. Washington DC, USA.

Enjoy a Juneteenth menu at the museum’s Sweet Home Café inspired by African American culinary traditions, offering visitors another way to celebrate the holiday through food and culture.

Big city celebrations are everywhere. Some are multi-day festivals. Some events are on June 20:

In Chicago, besides the grand opening of the Obama Center, there is a Juneteenth Celebration at the DuSable Museum, a comedy festival featuring Black comedians, an R&B music fest, an Emancipation Ball on June 18 and all weekend a floating party of hundreds of boats on Lake Michigan. Visit the pop-up market in Hyde Park that highlights Black-owned businesses from fashion to beauty to home goods.
Atlanta’s Juneteenth Atlanta Parade & Music Festival at Piedmont Park lasts all weekend, complete with a big parade, live music, a 5K Freedom Run, health fair and hundreds of vendors.
Philadelphia is known for one of the largest East Coast celebrations with a parade and festival. The parade draws some 250,000 attendees with more than 2,000 participants and floats.
Los Angeles’ Leimert Park Festival draws thousands for art, food and music, including drum circles, jazz and DJ sets. There is a freedom bike ride and an exhibition day in Exposition Park hosted by the California African American Museum.
The Hella Juneteenth Festival in Oakland, California, is at the Oakland Museum of California, and it’s the Bay Area’s major celebration presenting Black musicians, DJs, food and more. Across San Francisco Bay, San Francisco celebrates with the Fillmore Juneteenth Festival, a massive street party with music and cultural activities along with a Juneteenth parade, waterfront celebration and a concert at the Golden Gate Park bandshell.
Houston’s Juneteenth Houston is a city collaborative celebrating across 19 days. The Emancipation Park Conservancy hosts the Reunion at Emancipation which was purchased in 1872 by formerly enslaved people specifically to celebrate Juneteenth. Join Coloring for the Culture on June 16, featuring coloring that celebrates Black history.
Galveston, the official birthplace of Juneteenth, hosts historical reenactments, marches and a music festival throughout June, including on Saturday, June 13. On June 17, discover the stories of Juneteenth and the Underground Railroad as interpreters portray the voices of freedom-seekers at the historic Menard House, the oldest residence in Galveston.
Denver celebrates with the Juneteenth Musical Festival in the historic Black Five Points neighborhood which draws over 50,000 people and a parade that dates back to the 1950s, the city’s longest running parade. There is also a parade on June 21, and the Juneteenth Hop, which spans bars, breweries and cultural spaces along Welton Street.
New Orleans encourages visitors and locals to visit historic landmarks and support Black-owned businesses. (Check out the Self-Guided Black-owned Food and Drink Tour). Located about 45 minutes outside of New Orleans, Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum in Louisiana dedicated entirely to the experiences of enslaved people.

Enjoy!

(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)