Juneteenth Is Now An Official Public Holiday In South Brunswick Twp.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — This year, Municipal offices will be closed On June 19 in South Brunswick in observance of Juneteenth.

During the meeting on Tuesday, Council adopted a resolution declaring June 19 as an observed public holiday in the township. Earlier, Juneteenth was a floating holiday.

"This action honors South Brunswick Township's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and is deemed to be in the best interest of the city, its administration, and its employees," according to the resolution.

The resolution was first introduced to Council during the April 11 meeting.

Juneteenth is the oldest-known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday commemorates June 19, the day on which federal troops freed the last of the enslaved people in the country.

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate States were freed as of Jan. 1, 1863, Southern owners didn't follow the order while the Civil War was being fought.

As a result, enslaved people in Texas weren't freed until more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered in April 1865.

Around 2,000 federal troops led by Major Gen. Gordon Granger marched into Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, and read General Order No. 3, which announced that enslaved people in Texas were now freed "in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States."

Texas was the last state of the Confederacy to have people in slavery.

On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making it a national holiday - the first holiday to be added to the list of federal holidays since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

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