How to Celebrate Juneteenth in Chicago

On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger issued an order to officially inform Texans that all slaves were freed. This was two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. That famous executive order still hadn’t been fully enforced in some states. So the June date and portmanteau came to mark a concrete end to slavery.

Galveston is technically the birthplace of Juneteenth, but the holiday has modern connections to Chicago, too.

Juneteenth in Chicago

According to the Chicago Justice Project, Juneteenth parades in Chicago date back to the 1970s and ‘80s. These large parades ended at Rainbow Beach (in the ‘60s, the beach was the site of civil rights wade-ins.)

“Empty streets were buzzing full of Black families watching, waving, and dancing along with the music coming from the floats as they passed by,” Chicago writer Robin Mosley recalls of one Rainbow Beach extravaganza.

Juneteenth was celebrated more formally in Chicago in 1990, when William Wiggins organized a festival at the Chicago Historical Society. At the time, the Chicago Tribune called it Chicago’s first public Juneteenth celebration.

Following Wiggins’ event, more Juneteenth celebrations popped up in Chicago, mostly on the South and West Sides. Then the 2020 murder of George Floyd — and the resultant swell in the Black Lives Matter movement — set off a wider awareness of the holiday. Juneteenth became an official Illinois and federal holiday in 2021.

Four years on, the tradition is strong. This week, you can expect to see lots of Juneteenth celebrations no matter what corner of the city you live in.

Upcoming Juneteenth Events

Happy Juneteenth!