© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Connecticut Town Votes To Make Juneteenth A Municipal Holiday

Manchester, Connecticut, Town Hall
Kenneth C. Zirkel
Manchester, Connecticut, Town Hall

The town of Manchester, Connecticut, has made Juneteenth an official town holiday.

Juneteenth is meant to commemorate the day in 1865 that the last enslaved Black people in Texas got freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, two years after it was signed.

Manchester’s board of directors voted Tuesday: town workers will get another paid day off.

The town has now become one of the few communities in the country, including New York State, to officially celebrate the day. Advocates hope to make Juneteenth a national holiday.