{"id":26402,"date":"2023-05-31T18:03:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T18:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/31\/is-juneteenth-a-paid-federal-holiday\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:54:22","slug":"is-juneteenth-a-paid-federal-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/fedlife\/career\/2023\/05\/31\/is-juneteenth-a-paid-federal-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Juneteenth a paid federal holiday?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Juneeteenth, a combination of the day and month of the holiday commemorating the end of slavery, is the newest federal holiday designed by the U.S government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The holiday became officially recognized on June 17, 2021, by President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though often confused with Emancipation Day, <\/a>which is observed two months earlier by Washington D.C.\u2019s local government and celebrates the signing of the President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s historic proclamation outlawing slavery, Juneteenth celebrates the day that news finally made it to more than 250,000 enslaved Black people living in Texas in 1865.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved African American people to be freed in Southern states, though because Texas was still under Confederate control, it would take almost two years from the date of Lincoln\u2019s signage for those inhabitants to hear the news and be free themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union army arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19 1865 and brought word that slavery had been abolished. The formerly enslaved people began celebrating on that very day with shared meals, song, dance and prayers, according to Britannica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n