Where to celebrate Juneteenth all over the USA

11.06.2024 - 20:25 / lonelyplanet.com / Abraham Lincoln / Joe Biden / Barack Obama

Jun 11, 2024 • 4 min read

A federal holiday since 2021, Juneteenth celebrates the full promulgation of the United States’ Emancipation Proclamation. 

This historic federal decree, made by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, officially declared the 4 million enslaved Black Americans living in the United States at the time legally free. News of the proclamation spread slowly from east to west over the subsequent two years, with Texas, the nation’s westernmost Confederate state at the time, being the last one to announce the freedom of every American, on June 19, 1865. Thus was the Juneteenth celebration born. 

In the subsequent years and decades, the Black American community has celebrated the occasion to various extents – before Juneteenth officially became a universal American holiday through an act of Congress that President Joe Biden signed into law on June 17, 2021. Since then, Juneteenth has brought forth an array of historically nuanced, remarkably creative and innovative cultural events. Read on to get inspired by major Juneteenth celebrations planned in cities throughout the USA.

The city that never sleeps will be offering a weekend-long program of artistic and athletic events, including an award ceremony honoring 28 men hailing from NYC who have profoundly impacted their communities, a restaurant crawl featuring Black-owned businesses around the city and a festival featuring vendors and performers.

Lincoln Center will also be hosting a program called "Some Sing," an event created by curator Carl Hancock Rux and described as "a campus-wide jubilee of Black sound in all its vernacular and complex manifestations." Attendees will discover concerts across the campus featuring experimental jazz and soul performances, and a main-event concert featuring the work of award-winning composer Toshi Reagon.

Read more: Black Gotham walking tours will lead you through New York's untold history

This world-class city is home to a long line of history-shifting Black Americans, from Jean Baptiste Point du Sable and Ida B. Wells to contemporary artist Rashid Johnson and Barack Obama. Juneteenth is the perfect moment to visit this always-exciting town and enjoy both the beautiful early-summer weather and the festivities. 

The USA’s first independent museum dedicated exclusively to African American culture and history, the DuSable Museum of African American History in Hyde Park will be hosting numerous events. Explore the museum’s extensively researched exhibits before heading to the nearby Juneteenth Block Party. 

For those looking for an upscale evening out on the town for Juneteenth, ascend to the sky-high 99th floor of Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower for the city’s Emancipation Ball. The cocktail creations and