‘The People Are Informed That … All Slaves Are Free’

“The people are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” 

That’s the first sentence of Union General Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3, which he read in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on Jan. 1, 1863. 

Since then, Juneteenth has become a national holiday. This year, we conducted an exhaustive search of Juneteenth commemorations happening not just on the Westside but also in the west suburbs. We also included Westside and west suburban organizations hosting Juneteenth commemorations in other areas. So, there’s no excuse to miss a celebration this year.

If you think we’ve missed an event and want us to add it to our website, email stories@theculture.us. 

Friday, June 14 (6 to 10 p.m.), Saturday, June 15 (3 to 10 p.m.) and Sunday, June 16 (noon to 9 p.m.) | Schroeder Park, 2600 S. 13th Ave., Broadview | Broadview will host a three-day Juneteenth celebration featuring games, R&B and Blues music, a church service and fireworks. For more info, visit broadview-il.gov. 

Friday, June 14 (5 to 7 p.m.) and Saturday, June 22 (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) | 540 W. Madison St., Loop, and Malcolm X College 1900 W. Jackson St., Near West Side | Second District Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer and the nonprofit Juneteenth Illinois will celebrate Juneteenth with an array of programs, starting with a scholarship reception on June 14 at 540 W. Madison St., which Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will keynote. They’ll follow that with a slate of events at Malcolm X College, including panel discussions on health, financial literacy and re-entry resources, among others. For more info, visit juneteenthillinois.com.  

Saturday, June 15, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Oak Park Village Hall South Lawn, 123 Madison St., Oak Park | Oak Park’s annual Juneteenth community cookout will feature music, food, activities for kids, resource tables and a vendor market featuring local Black-owned businesses. For more info, visit oak-park.us/news. 

Saturday, June 15, noon to 3 p.m. | Front Porch Arts Center, 5851 W. Madison St., Austin | The Front Porch Arts Center will celebrate Juneteenth with the launch of its arts space in the Austin community, dedicated to uplifting narratives and culture through the arts. For more info, visit frontporchartscenter.org. 

Saturday, June 15, noon to 6 p.m. | Columbus Park, 500 S. Central Ave., Austin | The annual Austin Juneteenth West Fest will offer opportunities to learn about history and health, as well as have great fun. Free trolleys from Austin-area parks. For more info, email b_clay@sbcglobal.net.  

Saturday, June 15, noon to 8 p.m. | Anna and Frederick Douglass Park, 1401 S Sacramento Dr., North Lawndale | The third annual Juneteenth Village Fest will feature rides, games, food and performances by recording artists such as Common, Dead Prez, Domani and DJ Boolumaster. Everything is free. For more info, visit itavschools.org/villagefest.  

Saturday, June 15, 6:30 pm | Forest Park Aquatics Center, 7501 Harrison St., Forest Park | Forest Park’s Juneteenth Committee will hold its annual Juneteenth Pool Party. Open to all ages. For more info, call (708) 366-7500. 

Monday, June 17, 11:30 a.m. | Maywood Police Department Courtyard, 125 S. 5th Ave., Maywood | The suburb of Maywood will host its annual flag-raising ceremony. For more info, visit maywood-il.gov.  

Wednesday, June 19 (9:45 a.m. to noon) and Saturday, June 22 (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) | Various places in Broadview and Westchester | The suburb of Westchester will host a Freedom Walk starting at a local church in Broadview and Flag-Raising Ceremony ending at Westchester Village Hall on Juneteenth. A Community Celebration featuring line dancing, food trucks, a vendor market and more will be at Gladstone Park, 850 Westchester Blvd. in Westchester on June 22. For more info, visit westchester-il.org/juneteenth. 

Wednesday, June 19, 10 a.m. | Bellwood Village Hall, 3200 Washington Blvd. in Bellwood. Bellwood will host its annual Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony. For more info, visit bellwood-il.us. 

Wednesday, June 19, noon to 3 p.m. | PopCourt, 5257 W. Chicago Ave., Austin | Special Service Area AV 72 will host Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom featuring music, food and fun. Spoken word by Azariah, Maria Moon and more. Special guest: Omega Psi Phi. For more info, call (773) 378-1878. 

Wednesday, June 19, 1 to 5 p.m. | Memorial Park District, 639 N. Wolf Rd., Hillside | Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch will host hits third annual Juneteenth Festival featuring food and drink vendors, games and activities, bounce houses, live entertainment and more. For more info, email admin@hdemsil.com or call (708) 838-7005. 

Wednesday, June 19, 2 to 4 p.m. | UCAN Chicago, 3605 W. Fillmore St., North Lawndale | In honor of Juneteenth, UCAN and the National Association of Black Social Workers will host a presentation by Illinois Humanities Road Scholar Connie Martin about secret codes to freedom on the Underground Railroad. For more info, call (773) 819-5013. 

Wednesday, June 19, 5:30 to 9 p.m. | Museum Of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Near North | The Chicago West Community Music Center in West Garfield Park will hold its 25th Anniversary Gala on Juneteenth. The celebration will feature “Sweet Freedom Suite,” an original dance suite written by Chicago West Community Music Center Executive Director Howard Sandifer, with choreography by Joel Hall and a musical performance by CWCMC students. For more info, visit cwcmc.org.  

Saturday, June 22, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | West Town Museum of Cultural History, 104 S. 5th Ave., Maywood | The nonprofit Operation Uplift and its museum is partnering with the village of Maywood to host the 2024 Juneteenth National Freedom Day Celebration. The event will feature an address at noon from King Togbi Nyako Tamakloe VI of the Anlo Kingdom Volta Region in Ghana and two Reflection of the Past Trolley Tours of historically significant places in the village. For more info, call (708) 343-3554. 

Sunday, June 23, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. | Art Studio 928, 452 S. Oak Park Blvd., Oak Park | The Chicago Brickyard chapter of More Perfect Union, a national movement to strengthen communities, will host a Juneteenth Tea Party designed with a variety of activities to deepen our understanding of Juneteenth’s historical significance. It provides a space to engage in meaningful conversations about freedom, reflecting on the journey from emancipation to acknowledgment. The event will also explore the rich history of tea, drawing connections between the cultural significance of this beverage and the resilience of a community that has triumphed over adversity. For more info, visit mpu.us/chapters/chicago-il.  

Friday, June 28, (4 to 9 p.m.) and Saturday, June 29 (6:30 to 11:30 p.m.) | Kehrein Center for the Arts, 5628 W. Washington Blvd., Austin | On Friday, the Kehrein Center will host a free screening of the film “Juneteenth” and a conversation with panelists Opal Lee, Jarred Howard, and Afton Battle. Food, drink, vendors, a workshop with Ear Taxi Creative Director LaRob Rafael, and more. On Saturday, the Center will host the Black Aura Gala featuring dinner, libations, the Black Aura Awards, a VIP reception, and an after-party. Tickets for Saturday’s event start at $55. For more info, visit kcachicago.org. 

A Juneteenth Primer 

The Public Domain Review has many historic photos of past Juneteenth celebrations that have fallen into the public domain. The following excerpt is taken from publicdomainreview.org, a website we highly recommend you visit to learn more about this pivotal moment in history.  Although Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the Civil War then raging prevented it being enacted in much of the American South until months or even years later. Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth, is a celebration to mark the eventual country-wide realization of the decree — on June 19, 1865, when around 250,000 enslaved people were finally declared free in Texas — the last state in the US to be reached by the Union Army, commanded by General Gordon Granger, meaningfully accompanied, as historian Elizabeth Hayes Turner notes, by ‘two transports of colored troops’. Although Granger did not read out the Emancipation Proclamation itself on that day in Galveston, he did read out ‘General Order No. 3’, which began: ‘The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.’ One year later, the first anniversary of Juneteenth — or “Jubilee Day” as it was then called — was celebrated in several places in Texas. The tradition soon took hold throughout the state. Communal barbecues, concerts, prayer services, parades, as well as baseball games, fishing, and rodeos, all featured in the festivities. Some former enslaved people and their descendants living in far-flung parts of Texas made a pilgrimage to Galveston, and many dressed in their finest clothes — partly in response to the pre–1865 statewide laws that had prevented enslaved people from dressing in any clothing not given to them by those who held them in slavery.