CHICAGO — Communities across the Chicago area are preparing to mark Juneteenth with a full week of celebrations, service events, performances, and conversations about history, resilience, and racial equity.
Juneteenth — officially recognized as a federal holiday since 2021 — commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. For many in Chicago, it’s both a moment of joy and reflection.
“Juneteenth is a special day for us to remember freedom enforcement day,” said Kim Dulaney of the DuSable Black History Museum. “It reminds us that we are not bound by the old racist laws that existed before.”…