Juneteenth just became a federal holiday in 2021—and while it took a little while, it’s also now an official holiday in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many private businesses, however, still don’t observe it as a holiday,

Educator and author Ernest Crim III joins CBS News Chicago to discuss the history of Juneteenth and the fight to get it on the federal holiday calendar.

Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the United States, is now officially a federal holiday. For the fourth consecutive year, millions of Americans will observe the day on June 19, 2025. As a result,

For the first time since 2018, Sim’s grandmother, Opal Lee — known widely as the “grandmother of Juneteenth” — would not lead the annual freedom walk following a hospitalization. What happens to a holiday when its most beloved champion cannot join the celebration?

Lee's annual 2.5-mile walk acknowledges the two and a half years it took for news of freedom to reach those enslaved in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. Over the decades, the celebrations that followed became known as Juneteenth.