Here is a look at Juneteenth, the oldest known U.S. celebration of the end of slavery. On June 19, 1865, over two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free.

Announced in 2015, the Obama Presidential Center will open to the public June 19 at its 20-acre campus in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park.

Whether the weather ahead is pleasant or there’s a June monsoon brewing, here’s a starter list of arts and culture opportunities to get you out into the atmosphere.

It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — after the Civil War’s end and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The Juneteenth installment of the short film series “Life Within the Lens” will take place 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, at the Music Box Theatre. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers.

A former Chicago White Sox second baseman turned artist is partnering with White Sox Charities for a one-of-a-kind Juneteenth collaboration. Micah Johnson worked with student athletes who are part of the Amateur City Elite program to design custom Juneteenth artwork

Juneteenth celebrations are just around the corner, and there are plenty of ways you can celebrate the holiday in Chicago. Here’s a look at some events that are worth checking out.

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.

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.