Juneteenth, schools closed

What

Juneteenth, schools closed

When

6/19/2023

Juneteenth, a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas, delivered news of freedom to enslaved Black people. It is considered the end of slavery in the United States. Approximately 250,000 African Americans who had been enslaved were informed that the Civil War had ended and were proclaimed legally free.

President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday in 2021, making it the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Day in 1983. Consequently, federal employers are required to provide the date as a paid holiday to their employees, and other states have followed suit.

Let's take this day to stand in solidarity with our Black and African American employees in celebrating Juneteenth – the day “all” Americans became free.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ― Nelson Mandela