City Of Phoenix: Phoenix Mayor And City Council Declare Juneteenth A City Holiday

Press release from the City of Phoenix:

February 2, 2022 7:00 PM

Mayor Kate Gallego and the Phoenix City Council voted Wednesday to designate June 19 of each year as a city holiday in observation of Juneteenth. 

Juneteenth celebrates freedom and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, about two months after the Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved African-Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. This put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation issued more than two and a half years earl​ier by President Abraham Lincoln.

As part of the resolution approved by the Mayor and Council, Juneteenth will become a paid city holiday beginning this year. As with other holidays, when June 19 falls on a weekend, as it does this year, the holiday will be celebrated on the Friday before in cases where it falls on a Saturday or on Monday when the holiday falls on Sunday. ​

City offices will be closed for Juneteenth on Monday June 20, 2022. City services available that day will follow a similar pattern to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day or Cesar Chavez Day.

Related Social Media Hashtags and Handles: @CityofPhoenixAZ #Juneteenth Keywords: Juneteenth, city holidays

This press release was produced by City of Phoenix. The views expressed here are the author’s own.