Fredericksburg Declares Friday A Holiday In Honor Of Juneteenth

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — The city of Fredericksburg will be observing Virginia's newest proposed state holiday, Juneteenth, this Friday, June 19, the city announced Wednesday. City offices will be closed in honor of the holiday.

Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally made it to the slave-holding state of Texas. Union soldiers, led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, arrived at Galveston with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

On Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he will give every executive branch employee this Friday off as a paid holiday and will work with the state legislature to pass a law making Juneteenth an official state holiday.

"It is likely that the General Assembly will soon take up this matter and discuss Juneteenth as a permanent Virginia holiday moving forward," the city of Fredericksburg said in a news release announcing the holiday.

Loudoun County also announced Wednesday that its government administrative offices will be closed Friday in observance of Juneteenth.