By Sean Philip Cotter | sean.cotter@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald
PUBLISHED: July 24, 2020 at 7:21 p.m. | UPDATED: July 24, 2020 at 7:21 p.m.
Juneteenth, the day celebrating Black freedom from slavery, is now an official holiday in Massachusetts.
Gov. Charlie Baker signed the June 19 holiday into law on Friday as part of the $1.1 billion coronavirus spending bill he inked.
Baker wrote that this “establishes Juneteenth Independence Day as an annual state holiday on June 19 in order to recognize the continued need to ensure racial freedom and equality.â€
The day celebrates the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union troops reached Galveston, Texas, freeing the Black residents who remained enslaved there more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth celebrations date back to the next year in Texas, and the day remains a time of celebration and gathering for many in the Black community. In Boston — in years not disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic — there’s normally a large celebration in Franklin Park.
The push to make the date a holiday comes amid a national reckoning on race. Several high-profile killings of Black people spawned heated protests starting in late May and continuing daily for weeks afterward. Demonstrators pushed for police reforms — and also for broader efforts to create equality for minorities.
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https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/07/24/baker-signs-juneteenth-into-law-as-official-holiday/
