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Juneteenth

  • A year after Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the U.S., people gathered this weekend at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about the past and addressing racial disparities. President Joe Biden signed legislation last year making June 19 the nation's 12th federal holiday. June 19, 1865, was the day that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved Black people in the state. It was two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the Southern states.
  • A bill that would allow state employees to take the Juneteenth holiday or any other day instead of Confederate Memorial Day has unanimously passed the South Carolina Senate. The bill began as a proposal to add the Juneteenth celebration on June 19 as a new state holiday. But instead of adding a 14th holiday, the bill would create a floating holiday that workers could take on Confederate Memorial Day on May 10, for Juneteenth or any other day they choose. It is unclear if state offices would remain closed on Confederate Memorial Day. The bill now heads to the South Carolina House.
  • A bill giving state employees in South Carolina a floating holiday to replace Confederate Memorial Day is heading to the Senate floor. The bill started as a proposal to add the Juneteenth celebration on June 19 as a new state holiday. But instead of adding a 14th holiday, the members of the Senate Family and Veterans Services Committee voted Wednesday to create a holiday state employees could take any time they want. To not spend any additional money, the bill would remove Confederate Memorial Day on May 10 from the holiday list. If employees want that day off, or Juneteenth, they would have to use the floating holiday.
  • On June 19th, 1865, Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free. The news…