Juneteenth is officially a federal holiday
Following a signing ceremony at the White House Thursday afternoon, Juneteenth became the latest federal holiday and the first federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was approved almost four decades ago.
It means that “most” federal employees will get a day off today, since Juneteenth falls on June 19, a Saturday, according to a message that was sent Thursday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
“This is a day of profound weight and profound power,” President Biden said. The president signed the legislation after the U.S. Senate unanimously approved making Juneteenth a federal holiday earlier this week, and the U.S. House of Representatives supported it with only 14 dissenting Republican votes.
Vice President Kamala Harris said, “When we establish a national holiday, it makes an important statement. These are days that we as a nation have decided to stop and take stock, and often, to acknowledge our history.”
“Juneteenth” is a portmanteau that combines “June” and “nineteenth,” and it commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when the last American slaves were told that they were free by Union troops that had arrived in Galveston, Texas. This happened more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and two months after the end of the Civil War. Juneteenth has been celebrated formally and informally for years, and, more recently, some states and municipalities have made it an official holiday.
Two years ago, Gov. Tom Wolf declared June 19 Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Pennsylvania, and made it a paid holiday for the roughly 70,000 state employees under his jurisdiction. This means that nuts-and-bolts state agencies like license bureaus will be closed Friday. Employees in such areas as health care, law enforcement or public safety will be able to take time off at a later date, according to Lyndsay Kensinger, the governor’s press secretary. Other areas not under the governor’s jurisdiction include the Turnpike Commission and the State System of Higher Education. Under the state law, employers are not mandated to treat Juneteenth as a legal holiday.
All state level courts will be closed Friday, and earlier this month, Washington County President Judge John DiSalle issued an order that the courthouse and magisterial district courts be closed Friday in observance of Juneteenth. Washington County offices will remain open, however. Courts and county offices in Greene and Fayette counties will also be open.
Some companies, such as Best Buy and Target, have made Juneteenth a paid holiday for their employees.