Illinois Legislature Approves Juneteenth as a state holiday

(EVANSTON, Ill.) Illinois Legislature Approves Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Legislation making June 19 a paid day off for all state employees and a school holiday was unanimously approved by the Illinois House last week and by the state Senate in May. It states that if June 19 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday will be observed the following Monday. The measure would take effect immediately if Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs it.

Juneteenth commemorates the date in 1865 when the last enslaved Black people in the U.S. learned from Union soldiers in Texas that they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The day is also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day.

The day’s name is a combination of “June” and “nineteenth” in honor of the date of Granger’s announcement and first appeared around 1903. It is also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. … Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in 45 states.

Juneteenth is Friday, June 19, a holiday that is arguably as important to our nation as the Fourth of July, since it commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people of Texas, then the most remote region of the Confederacy, finally learned slavery had been abolished and that they were free. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free (two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation). The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order; but with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

The federal government has 10 holidays, but doesn’t include Juneteenth, or what’s also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and other names. Hawaii, North Dakota and South Dakota are the only states that do not recognize Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Juneteenth celebrations in the United States typically include prayer and religious services, speeches, educational events, family gatherings and picnics, and festivals with food, music, and dancing. The day is also celebrated outside the United States and is used to recognize the end of slavery as well as to celebrate African American culture and achievements.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield will mark the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, Juneteenth, by displaying a rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.