Celebrating Juneteenth, Friday – June 19th, at the Historical Museum with free admission

Juneteenth became a Federal Holiday in 2021 and celebrates the 1865 emancipation of people who had been enslaved in the United States.

Our state of Kansas entered the United States in 1861 as a “free state” and consequently became a destination for those seeking freedom.

One of the first local celebrations of this Federal Holiday was a four-day event in 1978, sponsored by the First Black Historical Society of Kansas, renamed The Kansas African American Museum in 1998.