LINC Caring Communities are celebrating Juneteenth in a host of events across many of our Caring Communities sites.

One of the special occasions shown here was at LINC’s summer program at Ingels Elementary School in the Hickman Mills School District where dancers and drummers from the Esoke Cultural Arts Center in Kansas City performed for — and with — the students and staff.

See photos and videos on Facebook

• facebook.com/kclinc

See more of the event, including videos, on our facebook page, facebook.com/kclinc.

Juneteenth, which was designated a federal holiday in 2021, dates back to June 19, 1865, which has historically been identified as the date when Union Troops after the Civil War finally got word to slaves in south Texas that they had been freed by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863.

It had taken 2½ years for the news of Lincoln’s proclamation to spread across the country all the way through Texas — and it also took time, and often Union troops, to enforce the order.

Juneteenth has become a celebration of the freedom from slavery and of Black culture throughout the U.S.