Sunday is Juneteenth federal holiday

The nation’s newest holiday, Juneteenth, falls on Sunday, June 19, the same day as Father’s Day this year. Since it is a federal holiday, many government agencies like the post office and banks will be closed on Monday, June 20,

On June 16, 2021, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It was passed by the House of Representatives on June 16, and President Joe Biden signed the bill on June 17, 2021. Juneteenth is the eleventh American federal holiday and the first to obtain legal observance as a federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated in 1983.

According to the bill, federal government employees will now get to take the day off every year on June 19, or should the date fall on Saturday or Sunday they will get the Monday or Friday closest to the Saturday or Sunday on which the date falls.

Since the holiday is new, a lot of people are unaware of what the holiday stands for. Juneteenth National Independence Day is also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Black Independence Day.

It originated in Galveston, Texas, and has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued on Jan. 1, 1863, freed enslave people in Texas and all other Southern secessionist states of the Confederacy except for parts of states not in rebellion. Enforcement generally relied on the advance of Union troops. Texas, being the most remote state of the former Confederacy, did not end slavery until June 19, 1863.

Traditional celebrations often include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing of traditional songs, and the reading of works by noted African-American writers.