This year marks the second year Juneteenth will be observed as a federal holiday.
June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas were told by Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger that they had been liberated. Granger’s announcement came almost three years after the Emancipation Proclamation. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared „that all persons held as slaves“ within the rebellious states „are, and henceforward shall be free.“
President Joe Biden’s announcement last year did not give every government agency enough time to act accordingly and cease operations. However, this year all federal agencies, some state governments and some stores will be closed the Monday following Juneteenth celebrations throughout the weekend.
