Government, some businesses are already recognizing Juneteenth this week

File photo Earlier this week, Congress passed legislation making Juneteenth a national holiday. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Thursday.

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By William Hall

Most federal employees — and some workers at large companies — are off today, Friday, in celebration of the United States’ newest national holiday.

President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon signed legislation recognizing June 19 as Juneteenth Independence Day. It marks the end of American slavery, on that date in 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, which had freed enslaved people in states rebelling during the Civil War.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills last week signed similar legislation making Juneteenth an official state holiday, joining 47 other states and the District of Columbia that recognize the occasion that way. North Dakota and South Dakota are the only two states that haven’t done so.

“The end of slavery was made possible by the courage and sacrifice of nearly 200,000 former enslaved and free African Americans who fought for freedom and liberty alongside their fellow Union soldiers, including more than 70,000 soldiers from Maine,” Mills said in a statement.

“By establishing Juneteenth as a State of Maine holiday, may we renew our commitment to fighting for a state and nation where equality, freedom, and justice for all is more than an ideal, but a reality.”

The new law closes all nonessential state offices on Juneteenth, a measure the Legislature found will have only “minor” costs, according to a fiscal impact statement. But because the act doesn’t take effect for 90 days after the end of the current legislative session, the state will not recognize the holiday until 2022.

June 19 falls on a Sunday next year, so under state law the Juneteenth holiday will first be observed Monday, June 20, 2022.

Workers for the U.S. government are observing it already, according to the federal Office of Personnel Management. “As the 19th falls on a Saturday, most federal employees will observe the holiday tomorrow, the 18th,” the OPM tweeted on Thursday.

In Maine on Friday, many companies appeared to be doing business as usual — or at least as usual for a balmy, sunny end of the work week during the pandemic.

But some retailers, including Best Buy and Target, are observing Juneteenth this year with a paid holiday for salaried workers and time-and-a-half pay for hourly workers.

Another employer with a large New England footprint, utility company National Grid, is observing Juneteenth as a company-wide holiday, according to the Worcester Business Journal, a Mainebiz sister publication.

Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas in 1866, and unofficial celebrations have grown over the years. Prior to making it a holiday, Maine had marked Juneteenth with state proclamations by Mills and her predecessor, former Gov. Paul LePage, since 2011.

Last year, Juneteenth received more attention than usual because the day fell during the height of civil unrest over the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police. In Maine, protests during June 2020 affected businesses in cities including Portland and Sanford.