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New York State Unified Court System |
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Director's Message:
Curiously, my history books always noted January 1, 1863 – when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued -- as the day that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious areas are, and henceforward shall be free..." and which effectively ended slavery in the U.S. However, we know that the Emancipation Proclamation had several significant limitations. First, in 1863, it was only enforceable in Union-controlled territories and secondly, its national mandate would ultimately be contingent upon the North definitively winning the protracted and bloody Civil War. Juneteenth, at times referred to as Freedom Day, Black Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth Emancipation Day, was initiated in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 (two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation!). On that day, led by Union General Gordon Granger, federal troops arrived in Galveston to enforce the freedom of enslaved African Americans that had been secured by the recent Union victory in the Civil War. The holiday’s name comes from a coupling of “June” and “nineteenth.” Fittingly, Texas was the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday, in 1980. According to Juneteenth.com, the holiday is “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.” Following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in early 2020 and the subsequent “summer of unrest,” the recognition of Juneteenth has taken on a more-profound significance – the day is now celebrated statewide in New York, and is a federal holiday. It is my hope that my court colleagues will view this day as a time to root out systemic racism, discrimination, and bias in our workplaces, and in our society. Please join me in celebrating Juneteenth 2022!
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In June 2020, then-Governor of New York Andrew M. Cuomo signed an executive order declaring Juneteenth (June 19) a holiday for state employees. In 2021, legislation was passed that marked Juneteenth as an official state-paid holiday. When I was growing up in New York City in the 1970's, I was not aware of Juneteenth. It wasn’t until I went to college in Washington D.C. that many of my Southern classmates would speak reverently about “Juneteenth” as the day when African Americans truly received emancipation from slavery. 
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