Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, announced Tuesday that he’s making Juneteenth an official state holiday.
What We Know:
- On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that he is making Juneteenth an official holiday in Virginia, where employees will receive paid days off. This Friday, every executive branch employee will receive the day off as a paid holiday and will continue to work with the legislature to pass the law that makes Juneteenth a permanent state holiday later this year.
- “It’s time we elevate this,” Northam said. “Not just a celebration by and for some Virginians but one acknowledged and celebrated by all of us.”
- Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when African Americans in Texas were finally notified that they were free because, on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves during the civil war.
- The decision to make Juneteenth a permanent state holiday isn’t the only time Gov. Ralph Northam took action to support Black lives. A couple of weeks before Tuesday’s announcement, Northam held a conference to announce his push for the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument. Northam also signed a law, ending Lee-Jackson Day, a day celebrating two Confederate leaders.
- A lot of people were in agreement with Northam’s decision regarding Juneteenth including state House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert. “July 4th is the birthday of our nation, but Juneteenth is the day where it truly began to fulfill its promise of freedom for all,” Gilbert said. “For the first time since enslaved Africans landed at Jamestown in 1619, the chains of bondage were finally cast off.”
- Pharrel William, a Virginian and musician, was at Tuesday’s conference saying Juneteenth deserves the same recognition and celebration as the 4th of July. “Here’s our day, and if you love us, it’ll be your day too,” Williams said.
- However, while Northam is getting praised for his decision, President Donald Trump has people furious at him for rescheduling his campaign rally on Juneteenth and in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa is known as a historic place where African Americans thrived until 1921 when a white mob massacred African Americans and burned black-owned businesses and homes.
Virginia is not the only state making Juneteenth a state holiday. In 1979, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday and Pennsylvania made it a state holiday in 2019, calling it National Freedom Day.
