Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration

Join us as Naperville Neighbors United presents its first Juneteenth celebration. To volunteer, sponsor or become a vendor, please contact us! We look forward to making this a Naperville tradition! Thank you to the SECA fund for supporting this event.

Event will include speakers, entertainment, food for purchase

On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the Emancipation Proclamation meant that people suffering under the chains of enslavement in the Confederacy were liberated. While chattel slavery would not be completely abolished in the United States until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December of that year, celebrations of the announcement in Galveston that year became annual and spread throughout the nation over the years, becoming known as “Juneteenth.”

Finally, in 2021, Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday. Naperville is proud to host its first annual Juneteenth celebration this year, on June 18, 2022.