Dawon Baker carries a sign to round up marchers from the University of Colorado to take part in a parade to mark Juneteenth on Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Denver. Several events were being staged around the Mile High City as well as nationwide to commemorate June 19, 1865, when African-Americans in Texas learned of their freedom, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Juneeteenth, a combination of the day and month of the holiday commemorating the end of slavery, is the newest federal holiday designed by the U.S government.
The holiday became officially recognized on June 17, 2021, by President Joe Biden.
Though often confused with Emancipation Day, which is observed two months earlier by Washington D.C.’s local government and celebrates the signing of the President Abraham Lincoln’s historic proclamation outlawing slavery, Juneteenth celebrates the day that news finally made it to more than 250,000 enslaved Black people living in Texas in 1865.
The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved African American people to be freed in Southern states, though because Texas was still under Confederate control, it would take almost two years from the date of Lincoln’s signage for those inhabitants to hear the news and be free themselves.
The union army arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19 1865 and brought word that slavery had been abolished. The formerly enslaved people began celebrating on that very day with shared meals, song, dance and prayers, according to Britannica.
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In this aerial photo provided by the Santa Cruz Police Department is a Black Lives Matter Mural painted on a street that was vandalized in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Saturday, July 24, 2021. Police in Northern California have arrested two men over allegedly vandalizing the mural. The mural had recently been repainted in celebration of Juneteenth, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported Sunday, July 25, 2021. (Santa Cruz Police Department via AP)
A woman decorates her car with a sign during a car parade to mark Juneteenth on Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Dan Bubien performs with hoe band "The Delta Struts" on the first day of the Franklin Blues & Barbecue Festival, Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Franklin, Pa. The annual festival with free music, returned after being canceled last year due to COVID-19, uses proceeds from vendors and sponsors to support the music programs in the local public schools. The festival helped celebrate the first Juneteenth celebration in the city.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
A stylized American Black Lives Matter flag flies during a Juneteenth rally, Friday, June 19, 2020, in Boston. Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned in 1865 they were free, more than two years following the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
People attend a free outdoor event organized by The Broadway League during Juneteenth celebrations at Times Square on Saturday, June 19, 2021, in New York. Parades, picnics and lessons in history marked Juneteenth celebrations in the U.S., a day that marks the arrival of news to enslaved Black people in a Texas town that the Confederacy had surrendered in 1865 and they were free. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Kayla Reed uses a bullhorn as she leads a march to mark Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2020, in St. Louis. Juneteenth is a celebration of the day in 1865 when enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Dawon Baker carries a sign to round up marchers from the University of Colorado to take part in a parade to mark Juneteenth on Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Denver. Several events were being staged around the Mile High City as well as nationwide to commemorate June 19, 1865, when African-Americans in Texas learned of their freedom, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The California Capitol dome is lit in the pan-African colors of red, black and green in honor of Juneteenth, in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, June 19, 2020. Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and ensure all enslaved people be freed, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Fireworks explode during Juneteenth celebrations above the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, June 19, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
People march to 16th Street Northwest renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington, Friday, June 19, 2020, on Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed from bondage, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Several local artists painted Black Live Matter mural on the street during a Juneteenth 2020 celebration outside the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum Friday, June 19, 2020, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to take control of the state and ensure all enslaved people be freed. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Julien James carries his son, Maison, 4, holding a Pan-African flag to celebrate during a Juneteenth commemoration at Leimert Park in Los Angeles Saturday, June 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Boston's acting Mayor Kim Janey, right, takes a selfie with attendees as she meets people in Boston's Nubian Square for a Juneteenth commemoration, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Opal Lee talks as she opens the front door of her home Thursday, July 1, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. Opal Lee's dream of seeing Juneteenth become a federal holiday was finally realized over the summer, but the energetic woman who spent years rallying people to join her push for the day commemorating the end of slavery is hardly letting up on a lifetime of work teaching and helping others.(AP Photo/LM Otero)
The Juneteenth flag, commemorating the day that slavery ended in the U.S., flies in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
From left, Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and members of the Congressional Black Caucus celebrate the passage of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act that creates a new federal holiday to commemorate June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people after the Civil War, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 17, 2021. It's the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Joe Biden signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Washington. From left, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., Opal Lee, Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., obscured, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of S.C., Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Some scholars and Americans of African heritage consider Juneteenth to be the country’s second independence day, the first of which comes not even a month later on July 4.
Texas was the first state to codify the date into law in 1980 and was the only state to have the day as a paid holiday for state employees in 2020. Since then, at least eight states — New York, Maine, Louisiana, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Illinois — have followed, according to AP.
In 2021, President Biden signed a bill into law to establish the holiday federally after an overwhelming 415-to-14 House vote and unanimous passage through the Senate, The Washington Post reported at the time.
“By making Juneteenth a federal holiday, all Americans can feel the power of this day, and learn from our history, and celebrate progress, and grapple with the distance we’ve come but the distance we have to travel,” Biden said in remarks.
Federal employees will have Monday, June 19, 2023, off from work, creating a three-day weekend.
There are 11 federal holidays recognized by the Office of Personnel Management. On these days, all non-essential government employees are off work, and most government offices are closed.
The next federal holiday is Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4th. The holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the same day in 1776 marking the colonies unified intention to secede from the British Empire.
Molly Weisner is a staff reporter for Federal Times where she covers labor, policy and contracting pertaining to the government workforce. She made previous stops at USA Today and McClatchy as a digital producer, and worked at The New York Times as a copy editor. Molly majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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