A group of students is countering violence on Chicago’s West Side by planting a peace garden and creating peace corners in classrooms in honor of Juneteenth. But this isn’t something out of the ordinary for them. They’re known as Peace Warriors — born out of North Lawndale College Prep almost 15 years ago.
Juneteenth
Americans across the country this weekend celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively new national holiday with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the Civil War.
Chicago-based visual artist Dwight White II curates cultural events. From June 19-25, he’s celebrating Juneteenth with a mural activation, gala evening and artist celebration day party.
For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts.
After years of advocating and campaigning, Juneteenth is being recognized as a federal, state and local holiday for the first time this year. The day recognizes June 19, 1865, that's when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were freed, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth will be recognized as a federal, state and local holiday for the first time this year. The day recognizes the freeing of the last enslaved people in Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
From the Civil War to the civil rights movement and everything in between, the lives of these prominent Black Chicagoans are educating others. We visit Oak Woods Cemetery for a lesson.
Parades, picnics and lessons in history were offered Saturday to commemorate Juneteenth in the U.S., a day that carried even more significance after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to observe the end of slavery.
Hundreds of top companies had already pledged last year to observe Juneteenth in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and the national reckoning on racism that followed.
This year alone, legislation to make Juneteenth a paid state holiday died in Florida and South Dakota and is stalled in Ohio, all states controlled by Republicans. But even in Maryland, where Democrats control the Legislature, a Juneteenth bill passed one chamber only to die in the other.
As Juneteenth becomes a widely recognized holiday, the award-winning chef at Virtue restaurant talks about what the day means to him, and how he tries to honor it through his work.
Green spaces across the Chicago area will serve as the backdrop for a number of Juneteenth celebrations this weekend, from live music and dance to discussions about the new federal holiday.
President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday that was passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday. Here’s a look at the holiday and its history.
Plus: Our Spotlight Politics team on the new law, Springfield summer session and more
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law Wednesday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, where a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by the country’s 16th president is currently on display.
Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, is poised to become the first official “day of observance” in Chicago as part of the agreement that will approve a $12.8 billion spending plan for 2021.
In addition to the traditional cookouts and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation — the Civil War-era order that declared all slaves free in Confederate territory — Americans were marching, holding sit-ins or car caravan protests.
