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Earlier this month, the Oregon Legislature unanimously voted to enshrine Juneteenth as a state holiday. Though it doesn’t officially take effect until over three months from now, many Oregonians, companies and state agencies are observing it this weekend.
President Joe Biden did the same this week, though his legislation took effect immediately. Today, Juneteenth is officially a federal holiday. It’s the first new holiday created in nearly four decades.
Juneteenth commemorates the date when enslaved people in Texas, the last enslaved people in the nation, received news of their emancipation. Though President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior, news of freedom was slowed by plantation owners resistant to the news and geographic isolation of certain areas. News was slow to reach the deepest crevices of the Confederate South.
State Sen. Lew Frederick, who championed House Bill 2168, reflected on his own connection to Juneteenth on June 1, when the bill passed the Senate.
“Family stories say, joy was the first emotion, and next skepticism,” Frederick said. “However, hope stood at the center of a possible future for my family and so many families. That hope continues to this day. So does the skepticism. The two can dance together, and in that dance, we can progress, and we can amplify hope.”
Frederick acknowledged that Juneteenth, though enshrined as a holiday now, is just one step in the efforts to dismantle systemic racism: “Juneteenth is not the date all slaves were freed. Juneteenth is not the date that Black Americans, or Black Oregonians, were guaranteed comfort, relief or safety. Also, Juneteenth was a step forward and a marker of hope, one we must continue to build upon. This official holiday will recognize that the people of Oregon, despite our past, can take the veil of ignorance away, and each year choose to have hope—on Juneteenth and every day thereafter.”
Next year, some state employees will receive a paid day off of work—but much of that will depend on what’s decided during collective bargaining sessions.
City Commissioner Mingus Mapps reminded his fellow commissioner during a virtual meeting June 16 that the holiday is one tinged with both joy and sadness.
“In the real world, slavery receded slowly and unevenly over time, almost county by county,” Mapps said. “It’s also a day tinged with sorrow. It’s both a liberation story and a story about justice delayed. For me, this tension is the defining characteristic of Juneteenth. It’s not just an opportunity to celebrate Black liberation; it’s a reminder that the work to dismantle racial exploitation continues to this day.”