Juneteenth (Observed)

The Chamber office is closed today.

Juneteenth commemorates the day when the last enslaved African Americans in the United States were freed following the conclusion of the Civil War.

While Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st 1863, most enslaved people in Confederate territory were not emancipated until the Confederate army surrendered in April 1865, ending the Civil War. Freedom did not reach the last enslaved people until June 19th, 1865, when Union soldiers under Major General Gordon Granger announced the emancipation of slaves in Galveston, Texas.

Juneteenth is also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Black Independence Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Jubilee Day. Traditionally commemorated by Black Americans for over 100 years, Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday in 1980, and was introduced as the newest Federal holiday by President Biden in 2021.

While all fifty states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or observance, as of 2022 only 18 states have enacted laws to observe Juneteenth as a paid state holiday. It is celebrated every June 19th and has been a federal holiday since 2021.