Juneteenth Becomes A Federally Recognized Holiday!
Juneteenth is not only a celebration, but also a solemn observance to honor those who suffered as a result of slavery over the past 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in the colonies that later became the United States. This year, the significance of Juneteenth lies in it being the fourth year as a federal holiday, granting all U.S. government employees and participating private businesses a day off from work. However, not all state governments recognize Juneteenth as a holiday, meaning that state employees in those states are expected to work unless state legislatures pass bills to establish it as a permanent holiday.
In 2023, Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada, and Tennessee officially made Juneteenth a permanent public holiday for the first time, as reported by the Pew Research Center. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey authorized Juneteenth this year to be a state holiday by decree, after efforts by state lawmakers to pass legislation for its permanent establishment. Race continues to be a sensitive issue in the United States, especially following the tensions sparked by the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of the police four years ago.
Some conservatives in states like Florida are attempting to alter the way Black history is taught in public schools, highlighting the ongoing deep tensions surrounding race in the United States, which had enforced a harsh system of racial segregation on Black Americans post-emancipation. Since Juneteenth 2023, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that universities can no longer consider race as a factor in student admissions, effectively ending affirmative action programs used by many schools to increase the representation of Black, Hispanic, and other underrepresented community students.