Credit: (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)You may have seen a new holiday pop up on your calendar. Monday, June 19, or Juneteenth, is a federal holiday. Juneteenth National Independence Day became a federal holiday in 2021, with the annual observance held on June 19 each year.
Gov. Phil Murphy had already signed a law in September 2020 that established Juneteenth Day as an official state and public holiday in New Jersey to be observed each year on the third Friday in June. As a result, the state and federal Juneteenth holidays often do not fall on the same date, as is the case this year.
According to the Pew Research Center, at least 28 states and the District of Columbia legally recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday, triggering state government office closures and a paid day off for state workers. But Juneteenth has been celebrated in parts of the U.S. for roughly 100 years.
Here are answers to your questions.
What is Juneteenth? The word Juneteenth, according to the Pew Research Center, is “a combination of the words June and nineteenth. It commemorates the day more than two months after the end of the Civil War — and more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation — when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom.”
Why does New Jersey celebrate Juneteenth on a Friday? An original draft of the legislation establishing Juneteenth as a state holiday in New Jersey called for it to be observed on June 19 itself. But an amendment that was passed in July 2020 changed the date of the observance to the third Friday in June.
During an Assembly Appropriations Committee meeting several months before the bill was signed into law, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer), a primary sponsor of the bill, said the goal was to “add Juneteenth Independence Day as the 14th state paid and public holiday.”
“It’s time for the commemoration of a pivotal moment in history, underscoring its importance to our community and giving time for reflection on how far we have come, and have to go, to achieve equality and justice for all,” Reynolds-Jackson said.
What’s closed on Juneteenth? State offices and courts will be closed on Friday, June 16. Federal offices, including the U.S. Postal Service, will be closed on Monday, June 19. Businesses around the state may also have different operating hours on Friday or Monday.
What other state holidays does New Jersey observe? The state has observed five state holidays so far this year — New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday and Memorial Day. After Juneteenth, state holidays will be observed on Independence Day on July 4th, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
