DeWine: State offices closed today ahead of 1st official Juneteenth holiday

State offices in Ohio are closed today in observance of Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday evening.

President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon signed a bill that established Juneteenth, or June 19, a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. It is the 12th federal holiday.

Biden’s action also makes Juneteenth a state holiday.

“Because Juneteenth falls on a Saturday, this makes the previous business day, Friday, June 18th, the day the state holiday is commemorated. This means that most state offices will be closed and most state employees will have the day off, with normal exceptions such as hospitals and public safety,” DeWine stated in a release.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered and about 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states, the Associated Press reported.

About the Author