The new law celebrates Juneteenth, a day which commemorates the end to slavery and celebrates Black and African American freedom and achievements, while encouraging continuous self-development and respect for all cultures. J.B Pritzker has said he wants to make it a state holiday. Millions of Government workers get a guilt-free day off, and private employers can decide whether they follow suit. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. Google urged their employees to cancel unnecessary meetings and encouraged employees to “use this day to create space for learning and reflection.”. Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth) – also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day – is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Now, at this moment of … In 1980, Texas became the first state in the US to declare Juneteenth a state holiday. Republican Sens. Elected officials, corporations and sportsmen are the latest to offer their support to the movement, which has a spotlight on it this year due to ongoing protests for African American equality. If approved by Congress, the federal government would observe the holiday in parity with Idaho's existing recognition of the celebration. Lawmakers have pushed for Juneteenth to be recognized as a national holiday. Molefi Kete Asante, chair of the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University, said Juneteenth as a national celebration would be one for "all Americans". Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced Thursday he will introduce a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. “These past years of constant evidence of disparities in the African American community shows that the stain of slavery has not ended.". Google Maps: Woman stuck in painful position - how did this happen? Nevertheless, Juneteenth has been “passed down” through black communities ever since, Rooks said, and in 2020, at the height of a modern-day civil rights movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, the holiday is seeing a renewed interest. Juneteenth 2020: Black Lives Matter protesters have highlighted Juneteenth today, Juneteenth 2020: Sheila Jackson Lee has said she plans to table legislation for Juneteenth, Kim Jong-un: North Korea’s panic as regime ‘begins to topple’ exposed. Juneteenth is a state holiday in New York and an official observance in almost all US states and in the District of Columbia. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation designating Juneteenth a public holiday in the state. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday. Mastercard designated June 19 as a “Day of Solidarity” and urged workers to “pause and reflect” about all of the work left to do to “combat racism and discrimination.”, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Juneteenth will be. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday. The Civil War was over and President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, but the news hadn’t yet reached the most remote Confederate state. 52,334, This story has been shared 52,138 times. For now, Juneteenth remains a holiday that each state in the country can decide whether to formally recognize. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, George Washington's Birthday, now commonly known as Presidents' Day, was made a federal holiday in 1879 but is oddly never held on his actual birthday.The father of … Some on … Emancipation meaning: What does emancipation mean? Juneteenth is the portmanteau of June and nineteenth and while it is not a federal holiday, it is recognised as a state holiday in over 45 US states. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Blocks Bill To Make Juneteenth A Federal Holiday. Opal Lee, 93, has been fighting for Juneteenth to be a federal holiday. The Senate currently has before it a bill that would designate Juneteenth to the calendar of federal holidays. In the case of Juneteenth, it demands we recognize our failure to deliver on the … Earlier this year, Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday for New York State employees. at the moment. Rep Lee told the Huffington Post: “I cannot imagine this nation healing from the enormous and penetrating impact of race, racism and the history of slavery without officially acknowledging a day in the nation’s history that really speaks to freedom and independence for those who carried the burden of slavery. Now she believes change really is coming. In 1872, black Texans led by Baptist minister and former slave Rev. Following Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s reluctant surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Granger was able to finally make his way to Galveston to enact Lincoln’s proclamation and free the last remaining victims of chattel slavery in the US. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. newspaper archive. A business owner puts up Juneteenth decorations in 1989. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday, but 46 states and the District of Columbia recognize it as a state or ceremonial holiday. June 18 June 18. Juneteenth is a step closer to becoming an official holiday in the City of Pittsburgh. Your California Privacy Rights Why Juneteenth is still not a federal holiday, and what supporters are doing to change that. “It signified the true end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction, a time that was supposed to be very happy and hopeful but became a very miserable time as part of the redemption of the South to move African Americans to indentured servitude.”. “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” the Union general read aloud to the residents of Galveston, according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Washington Monument struck by lightning as some claim it's a sign, Coronavirus shock: UK overtaken by country in COVID-19 death toll, Coronavirus: WHO warns deadly disease has hit one continent hardest, Fears second wave of deadly COVID-19 has already begun in US state. Black Americans have long celebrated Juneteenth, but it’s not a federally recognized holiday. No, not yet. 57,498, This story has been shared 52,334 times. Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article The only state which regards it as an official holiday is in Texas, where Union army general Gordon Granger issued the crucial federal orders to terminate the slave trade. Still, more workers than perhaps ever in history will have the day off on Friday: Nike, the NFL, Twitter and its mobile payments services company Square, along with a handful of media outlets, have announced plans to observe Juneteenth as a company holiday. “There were wire services, there were newspapers … the larger plantation owners were very wealthy and wealthy people have access to information,” the professor went on. 47,790, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved Legend has it a messenger on horseback with news of freedom was murdered on his way to Texas, while other historians blame Galveston’s isolated nature as a barrier island on the eastern edge of Texas, and their limited access to communication. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday but according to the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, 45 states and the District of Columbia mark the day as a holiday or observance. Many schools don’t teach the history of Juneteenth and it is not recognized as a federal holiday. "[Juneteenth] is a holiday jubilee, and there is nothing wrong with after so many years, almost a 150-something years, for African Americans to say, 'OK, we can now … Is it a federally recognized holiday? The US Senate passed a resolution last year recognizing “Juneteenth Independence Day” as a national holiday, but it has not yet been approved in the House. Federal holidays include Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr Day and Independence Day. Juneteenth is one of America’s oldest holidays and is observed each year on June 19 to mark the official end of slavery in the US. Andrew Cuomo made a similar announcement Wednesday when he signed an executive order recognizing June 19 as a paid holiday for state employees and said he will propose legislation to make it a permanent state holiday down the line. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday, but 46 states and the District of Columbia recognize it as a state or ceremonial holiday. “In the US at least, there’s a real grappling with what it meant and it what it continues to mean that so much of the economy in the US during a particular period of time was based on the enslavement of human beings and not acknowledging the humanity and calling us property that allowed slavery to flourish,” Rooks explained. Juneteenth facts: What is the meaning of Juneteenth? However, we believe Juneteenth should be a federal holiday recognized and honored nationwide. "It's quite clear to me that the nation has rarely felt that black lives matter [and] whatever black people did or whatever happened to black people didn't really matter. At the time, Galveston had its own newspaper, the Galveston Daily News, and a dispatch from New Orleans detailing the end of the war and the return of Confederate prisoners was published on June 3, 1865, more than two weeks before Granger arrived, according to archives accessible through Newspapers.com. In 2019, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution, naming “Juneteenth Independence Day,” as a national holiday, but it was not approved by the House. Lawmakers and the public call for Juneteenth to be a federal holiday. Juneteenth is among the oldest celebrations of emancipation and is certainly worthy of a Federal holiday. An African American band at an Emancipation Day celebration in Austin in 1900. Texas, Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania recognize it as an official paid holiday for state employees. However, you will find some great articles Amid nationwide demonstrations against police brutality, Rooks expects 2020’s celebration of Juneteenth will be marked by more protests and a renewed focus on the work that still needs to be done to advance black rights. However, many states won't celebrate it officially. Juneteenth, the day that celebrates the emancipation of African Americans from slavery, is in the spotlight this year like never before. Now Make It An Official Federal Holiday. They were brutal and inhuman, but not ignorant.”. Not because it changes history. But Professor Noliwe Rooks, PhD, director of American studies and professor of Africana studies at Cornell University, said the delayed end to slavery was fueled by nothing but greed. Postmates has declared June 19 an official company holiday. June 19 th, or Juneteenth, marks the day in 1865 when, ... Loudoun employees now have now holidays than federal employees. Juneteenth is a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. North Dakota is only one of three states in the nation that does not … Gov. “This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”. In 2017, she embarked on a months-long journey that brought her to Washington, D.C., in an effort to make it happen. Cornyn releases his bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday after the death of George Floyd sparked renewed focus on the civil rights movement after … As the debate surges yet again over whether Juneteenth ought to become a federal holiday, I can’t help but think of my mother. His 1865 proclamation freed every African-American in the slave state, and Texas adopted Juneteenth as a holiday 115 years later in 1980. "[Juneteenth] is a holiday jubilee, and there is nothing wrong with after so many years, almost a 150-something years, for African Americans to say, 'OK, we can now celebrate with … Today, Rooks said Juneteenth continues to be a day for jubilant celebrations. “The idea that people in that part of Texas had no idea that the war was over is farcical, quite frankly,” Rooks told The Post, chuckling at the thought. Opal Lee isn’t giving up. J.B Pritzker has said he wants to make it a state holiday. De Blasio is not alone in elevating June 19 in New York: In October, Gov. Andrew Cuomo late Wednesday signed a … The nation needs a day not just to honor and celebrate what many refer to as America’s second Independence Day, but it also needs a moment when each and every person can stop and reflect on the work that is yet to be done. (CNN)Juneteenth, the annual commemoration of emancipation that has been celebrated in the African American community since June 19, 1865, should be a national federal holiday… At the peak of the anti-racism protests last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that Juneteenth would become “an official city holiday,” commemorating June 19, 1865, a date marking the liberation of enslaved Black people in Texas. Ralph Northam announced plans to give every executive branch employee a paid day off Friday and said he will work with the legislature to pass a law making Juneteenth a permanent state holiday later this year, Al Jazeera reported. The day, which gets its name from combining June and 19, has long been celebrated by black Americans as a symbol of their long-awaited emancipation — but the story behind the holiday, and how Juneteenth got its meaning, starts 155 years ago Friday in Galveston, Texas. When Lee, a mother of four, as well as a grandmother and great grandmother, retired as a guidance counselor from the Fort Worth Independent … Juneteenth 2020: Juneteenth is on June 19 every year. Jack Yates raised $1,000 to buy 10 acres of land in Houston that could be dedicated to Juneteenth celebrations and named the location Emancipation Park, according to the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. Introduced June 15, this year it has more than 200 co-sponsors — and that’s not all: she also plans this week to introduce a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Content loading... A bipartisan effort to make Juneteenth a federal holiday failed in the Senate on Wednesday after Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) blocked it from advancing. Forty-five states recognize June 19th as an official or a ceremonial holiday. Juneteenth is a 155-year-old holiday celebrating the emancipation of African-Americans from slavery in the U.S. We've received your submission. New York Gov. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. But while the majority of states observe the day, only a couple of states — outside of Texas — recognize it as a paid state holiday. “The importance of [Juneteenth] is that it’s kind of rooted in this long history of struggle to get freedom and then the efforts to maintain that freedom in the face of enormous repression that was going to come shortly after,” explained Columbia University Professor David Rosner, PhD. Uber employees will be given a paid day off. But moves to make Juneteenth a federal holiday have not been able to gain traction in Congress. Make Juneteenth a federal holiday | Opinion; The call for Juneteenth to be a national holiday is worth supporting. ... down more information on Juneteenth and shares why now more than ever it is time that our independence day receives recognition as a federal holiday… Emancipation Day celebration held on June 19, 1900, in Austin, The Juneteenth parade in Philadelphia, 2019, 'A-Train Ripper' busted, still covered in blood, in knife attacks on NYC subway, Daughter of Lombardi Trophy designer wants apology from Tom Brady, 'Gorilla Glue girl' seen sporting new post-surgery look, 'Bridgerton' star Regé-Jean Page snapped embracing mystery woman before flight, Janet Jackson’s 1986 album ‘Control’ tops charts after Justin Timberlake apology, Madison LeCroy shows some skin in Instagram post praising plastic surgery, Claudia Conway ‘felt nervous and sick’ during ‘American Idol’ audition, Gina Carano Hits Back After ‘The Mandalorian’ Firing: “They Can’t Cancel Us If We Don’t Let Them”, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, renewed focus to the plight of black Americans, Best Presidents Day sales 2021: 32 huge deals from top brands, Nordstrom Rack takes up to 75% off clearance items for Clear The Rack sale, Best Presidents Day furniture sales 2021: 16 deals on beds, couches, more, Sephora takes 50 percent off top beauty products for Presidents Day sale, Best moisturizers for dry skin 2021: 29 expert-approved face products, Random act of kindness brings woman to tears, Best Buy announced employees will be offered a “paid volunteer day” for Juneteenth 2020 and in 2021, it will become a “formal, paid company holiday.”. Lee, a 93-year old former educator and children’s book author, has been pushing for Juneteenth to be recognized as a federal holiday for years. For now, Juneteenth remains a holiday that each state in the country can decide whether to formally recognize. Lyft said Juneteenth will be considered a companywide holiday effective Friday. But 47 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation recognizing it as a holiday or observance. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. Who is James Joyce? This story has been shared 83,007 times. General Motors plans to hold an 8-minute, 46-second-long moment of silence in honor of Floyd, who was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Cuomo, speaking during his daily press briefing in Albany, said... Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The mayor and the unions have yet to hammer out the details of a plan — and Juneteenth still has yet to be made an official paid holiday, a City Hall spokesperson acknowledged to THE CITY. Year after year, Americans wonder why Juneteenth—a celebration of liberty and the end of enslavement—is not a federal holiday while so many other historic moments are. I want to read an op-ed from the Washington Post, written by the musician Usher, which I think eloquently sums up why it is not only important to honor this day as a Federal holiday, but it is also important to recognize it as a part of American history. While President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in his Jan. 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation, rebellious Confederate strongholds dotted across the South delayed the widespread implementation. It is important to celebrate this day separate from July 4th, to highlight the fact that not … In 1980, Texas became the first state to officially designate a Juneteenth holiday. Despite the lack of federal recognition, the holiday has lived on through rich traditions, including lively celebrations. Bloomsday celebrations: What is Bloomsday? On June 19, 1865, Union troops led by Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to break the news to the last remaining Confederate sympathizers that they’d lost the Civil War and all slaves must be freed. This week, Virginia Gov. Stand with Americans to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday within our federal government. Currently, there are 10 federal holidays each year, where federal employees are given a … Terms of Use DON'T MISSMichelle Obama's furious confession on racism exposed - INSIGHTBloomsday celebrations: What is Bloomsday? “And so what joins those two moments [of Juneteenth and nationwide protests] in my mind at least is both at its center, at its core, is a call for the recognition of black people as human beings whose lives matter.”. Juneteenth emerged 155 years ago to celebrate the end of slavery in America and the conclusion of a devastating civil war. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday, yet it’s recognized by Pennsylvania and 46 others states (along with the District of Columbia) as either a state holiday or observance. The short answer is no.But if we consider recent events, Juneteenth could well be on its way to becoming one. Martin Luther King, Jr. before his birthday was observed as a federal holiday. While Juneteenth is not a federal holiday but a Texas holiday celebrated because it was the last state to end slavery, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. That's important.". Your Ad Choices "I think it is relevant today. Express. Federal holidays in the US act similarly to a bank holiday in the UK. Thanks for contacting us. Sign the national petition; Stand with Americans to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday within our federal government. Gov. Target workers who are paid hourly will receive time and a half for working June 19 and it’ll be recognized as a company holiday moving forward. Which is why making Juneteenth a federal holiday is both urgent and necessary. Over time, communities have developed their own traditions,” the report states.
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