Unlike last year, this Juneteenth the United States Postal Service won’t deliver mail and the stock market will be closed.
Why it matters: Since the newest federal holiday fell on a Sunday this year, Monday is when most businesses and the federal government will officially recognize the date in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they’d been freed two years earlier after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Axios’ Ross Terrell reports.
- This year, about 30% of private employers are offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday compared to 8% in 2020, according to survey data from the Wisconsin-based International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
- 96% of businesses offering the day off started in 2020 amid discussions of racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, Julie Stich, vice president of content at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, told Axios.
- Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Jubilee Day.
What they’re saying: Laquan Austion, founder of The Juneteenth Foundation based in Washington D.C., told Axios that people of all races should view June 19 as an American holiday — not one just for Black people.
- “Think about July 4th,” Austion said. “We celebrate that day for American independence. Juneteenth represents our independence from ourselves. Now we all have the ability to pursue the Founding Fathers’ vision.”
- “I think that Juneteenth being named a federal holiday is positive overall, but there are watch-outs here, too,” Joshua DuBois, founder and CEO of insights platform Gauge, told Axios. “Juneteenth stems from the celebration of slavery’s end in this country.”
Stock market, banks, USPS closed for Juneteenth
U.S. stock markets, banks and USPS are closed Monday for Juneteenth in 2022.
- Flashback: Because Juneteenth became a federal holiday just days ahead of the holiday in 2021, there wasn’t time for many businesses, including the U.S. Postal Service and stock markets, to mark the day last year.
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