Juneteenth

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Mammy Statue JC Museum Ferris
Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow
Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.
Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters
Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.
An Iconic Lynching in the North
Lynching Quilt
Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two
Joshua Glover Plaque
Some Exhibits to Come – Three Centuries Of Enslavement
Harriet Tubman, "The Conductor," with fugitive slaves in Underground Railroad station
Bibliography – Three Centuries of Enslavement
Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali
Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie
Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage
Slaveship Stowage Plan
What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829
Arno Michaels
Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, is a day that recognizes the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform slaveholders that they must legally those people who remained enslaved. This threat of force against the holdouts successfully ensured that the city’s remaining slaves, many of whom were already aware of slavery’s end but lacked the power to stand up to their slavers, were freed. Juneteenth has become an important day to many Black Americans and allies in the fight against racism.

Below you’ll find articles and exhibits about Juneteenth, which will automatically update as we add new stories about Juneteenth. As you scroll through these pages, you’ll understand the day’s history, efforts to increase awareness, the fight for it to be recognized as a holiday, and current events celebrating the day and its meaning.

Slice of History: Juneteenth Event Schedule

June 1, 2025

ABHM invites you to celebrate a longstanding Milwaukee tradition of Juneteenth (June 19th) both at the citywide festival hosted by the Northcott Neighborhood House and then visit us to learn more about the history behind this important American holiday.

Summerfest Juneteenth Celebration: First ever in Milwaukee

June 11, 2025

The partnership brings together two of the city–and state’s–biggest festivals this summer, combining music and Black culture.

As Juneteenth approaches, Black Florida community renews preservation bid

June 13, 2025

Residents, who are mostly descended from enslaved people, want their community on the National Register of Historic Places.

Funk, hip-hop and R&B hitmakers to descend on Pittsburgh for Juneteenth celebration

June 17, 2025

Pittsburgh’s 2025 Juneteenth celebration with be bigger than ever and includes some surprising musicians in the lineup.

Opal Lee, grandmother of Juneteenth, gets her own Barbie doll

January 22, 2026

Activist Opal Lee is an icon being honored by Mattel with a Barbie doll, who wears her signature outfit and is ready to march.