The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has opened to the public for the first time.
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the first visitors to the center. The Obamas surprised the first 100 visitors to walk through the doors of the new Obama Presidential Center, personally greeting them.
Tickets for the general public are sold out through the end of November but those lucky enough to get them for the first day got the unexpected surprise of meeting the Obamas themselves.
The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center includes days of events following yesterday’s star-studded dedication ceremony.
At the star-studded dedication ceremony, the Obamas gave rousing speeches to an audience including three former Presidents, their former First Ladies, and a host of politicians, A-list celebrities, musicians, athletes and others. Thousands more joined the livestream from a nearby park.
In addition to greeting visitors as the center opened to the public for the first time, the couple also read to children gathered there. The Obamas, joined by former “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton, read “Where the Wild Things Are” to 25 school children at the Chicago Public Library branch inside the center.
A weekend of events is planned for the center, located on a sprawling campus on Chicago’s South Side near where the Obamas lived and began his political career. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.
The center honoring the nation’s first Black President has been designed to inspire people to make the change they want to see in their own communities.
The nearly 20-acre (8-hectare) campus includes a museum featuring a life-sized replica of the Oval Office, a garden designed by Michelle Obama complete with lettuce and strawberry plants, a professional-grade basketball court, a picnic area with grills and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. Visitors can experience high-tech and hands-on exhibits spanning the campaigns, key moments of Obama’s presidency and life at the White House.
The spaces are designed to bring people together on a campus expected to draw as many as 1 million visitors annually, but the center also aims to encourage personal reflection.
U.S Celebrates Juneteenth
The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center comes as people gathered across the U.S. to celebrate Juneteenth.
This is the fifth year since Juneteenth was designated as a federal holiday by former President Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s Vice President. The celebrations, which began in Texas and then spread across the country, have a rich and long history in Black America, with the day often spent gathering for picnics and cookouts.
The holiday — a combination of “June” and “nineteenth” — marks the day when U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in the Texas port city with the declaration of freedom in General Order No. 3.
The holiday marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, at the end of the Civil War with an order declaring the state’s enslaved people to be free with “absolute equality.” By then, 2 1/2 years had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation declared the freedom of enslaved people in the South.
Juneteenth’s birthplace was celebrated with a daylong gathering at a Galveston park with music and fireworks, a worship service in a historic Black church and a parade that included brass bands and brought out families who braved temperatures in the 80s. Those in attendance were invited to join a community picnic after the parade ended.
In nearby Houston there was a lineup of musical artists and a domino tournament at Emancipation Park, established in 1872 by a group of formerly enslaved men. Hundreds of other cities across the U.S. announced events over the long weekend, including a parade in Atlanta, a bike ride in Los Angeles and a festival on Martha’s Vineyard. People also gathered for community projects to mark the day, including a group of schoolchildren in Vermont.
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