Juneteenth is an annual holiday observing the end of slavery in the U.S. It marks the day (June 19, 1865) when news of emancipation reached people in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas.
The holiday, also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day or Jubilee Day, recognizes the date when news of emancipation finally reached Galveston, on June 19, 1865.
Nearly two months after the end of the Civil War, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, along with more than 1,800 federal troops, arrived to take control of the state, declaring that enslaved people were freed.
Although the Emancipation Proclamationan executive order declaring that "all persons held as slaves" would be freewas signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender in Appomattox, Va., marked the end of the Civil War in April 1865, news spread slowly and often met resistance from plantation owners.
In 2021, it became the first new federal holiday created by Congress in nearly four decades. The bipartisan legislation was signed into law by President Biden on June 17, giving Juneteenth the same status as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and other federal holidays.
The 13th Amendment, enshrining a ban on slavery into the Constitution, was ratified in December 1865. In pockets of the country, however, enslavement of African-Americans continued for several years.
What Is Juneteenth? And How Did It Become a Federal Holiday? - WSJTexas became the first state to recognize Juneteenthwhich they also call Emancipation Dayas a holiday in 1980, but it is marked "skeleton crew required," offering paid time off to some, but not all, state employees.
Some states, such as New York and Virginia, follow federal guidelines and are closed from the state level down to the local.
Others leave adoption up to the municipalities. For example, while Arizona is open on a state level, Phoenix closes all city offices for Juneteenth.
The most populous cities in 46 states observe Juneteenth as a paid day off, creating a split between state and city government calendars.
Who Gets Juneteenth Off? See the States Where June 19 Is a Paid Holiday - WSJAs a TxDOT employee, I worked on Juneteenth, and I received 8 hours of compensation time for working a skeleton crew day.
