It’s Juneteenth

Today is Juneteenth. The federal holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, marking when enslaved people in Texas received news of the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation was issued on Sept. 22, 1862, and enacted on Jan. 1, 1863, but because of the Civil War and the delays in messages getting to Texas, it didn’t get to Texas until June 19, 1865, just months before the 13th Amendment was ratified. Texas was the first state to declare the day a state holiday, but it was made a federal holiday by former President Joe Biden in 2021. Because it is a state and federal holiday there will be closures. They include; no regular mail delivery, no trading on Wall Street, banks, some state government offices and federal offices.