Westford To Celebrate 'Juneteenth' Day

WESTFORD, MA — Saturday, June 19 will be "Juneteenth Day." The day, which is a portmanteau of June 19 has been set aside to celebrate the end of slavery in America stretching back to its founding in 1865.

Westford town offices will be closed Friday in honor of the holiday.

The holiday has taken on a new meaning with racial justice rallies, marches and protests sparked by the deaths of Black people at the hands of police across the country.

Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 that Union troops rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War had ended and President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier.

There are celebrations in Massachusetts — including at the Boston African American National Historical Site —this year, with many mixing in themes from recent demonstrations.

In 2019 the US Senate passed a resolution recognizing "Juneteenth Independence Day" as a national holiday. Then in July 2020 Gov. Charlie Baker signed a house bill officially recognizing Juneteenth as an annual state holiday, requiring the city to add Juneteenth as a paid holiday for its employees. This week, the federal government named it a national holiday.

The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, an organization based in Mississippi has been pushing for this for years.

Texas began made it a state holiday in 1980. A number of other states followed suit, either observing the day in some fashion or making it an official holiday.

Twitter, Nike, the National Football League, Vox and other major businesses all recognized Juneteenth as a paid company holiday last year.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, a column, event or opinion piece.