Juneteenth will be celebrated in Massachusetts as a state and federal holiday on Thursday, June 19. 

 

The date of June 19 was first designated as a state holiday in 2020 and federal holiday in 2021, but it has been commemorated in Massachusetts since former Gov. Deval Patrick first signed a proclamation in 2007.

 

The date has long been celebrated in other parts of the country, sometimes as Emancipation Day, the day in 1865 when Union Army Gen. Gordan Granger proclaimed freedom for more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas, completing the end of slavery in the areas of the United States after more than 300 years. These freed Texans took the celebration with them as traveled to other states although their liberty was still limited by the enforcement of Jim Crow laws, bigotry, fear and violence.

 

Juneteenth has been a state holiday in Texas for nearly 40 years following renewed interest and energy during the Civil Rights Movement. It has also been called Jubilee Day, Freedom Day and Black Independence Day. 

 

In 2016, 89-year-old Opal Lee, who had watched a mob of racists burn down her house on Juneteenth in 1939, walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the date to become a federal holiday. She stood next to President Biden when he signed the declaration. 

 

On Thursday, June 19