WINCHESTER â The Frederick County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday night declined to add the new state holiday of Juneteenth â which celebrates the end of slavery â to its list of county holidays.
Juneteenth commemorates the events of June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston, Texas, bringing news that the Civil War had ended and that the Emancipation Proclamation had declared all enslaved people free nearly two and a half years earlier. Currently, 47 states and the District of Columbia honor Juneteenth as a holiday or day of recognition.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly designated Juneteenth as an official state holiday âto commemorate the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, the last of the former Confederate States of America to abolish slavery, and to recognize the significant roles and many contributions of African Americans to the Commonwealth and the nation.â