US Makes Juneteenth a National Holiday, NJ Celebrates Tomorrow

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Jun 17, 2021

President Joe Biden signed a bill today making Juneteenth – a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States – a national holiday. Specifically, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, to declare that the Civil War was over and inform enslaved people of their freedom.

This past September, Gov. Phil Murphy signed similar legislation, which designated the third Friday in June (tomorrow) as a state and public holiday in New Jersey, known as Juneteenth Day.

President Abraham Lincoln originally issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared “that all persons held as slaves” within states engaged in rebellion against the Union “are, and henceforward shall be free,” on January 1, 1863, some 900 days before the news of emancipation reached the enslaved people in Galveston.

“Imagine the people Gen. Granger addressed…[they] did not even know they had been free for two and a half years,” Murphy said.

“While Juneteenth is celebrated to mark the end of slavery, we must use this day to take stock of where we are as a nation and a state in achieving true equality for all Americans,” he continued. 

“It gives me great pride to celebrate emancipation and New Jersey’s great diversity by designating Juneteenth as an official state holiday.” Murphy said. “Every Juneteenth, we will celebrate the end of the physical chains that once held Black Americans down. … Juneteenth is an important marker that reminds us of our mission to create a society that enables our Black communities to achieve the full equality which they deserve.”

With the signing of the bill by President Biden, June 19 will officially be known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, and marks the first holiday approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.

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