KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — President Joe Biden officially made Juneteenth, June 19, a federal holiday on Thursday. He signed the bill into law that received sweeping approval in Congress. It passed the Senate unanimously and went through the House of Representatives on Wednesday with a 415-14 vote.
The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when union soldiers brought news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas — 2 months after the Confederacy surrendered.
It was also around 2-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which helped boost public opinion of the Civil War. Experts say it inspired public support in the fight against the Confederacy after several years of bloodshed across the fractured nation.
Juneteenth is also the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. And with the new holiday fast approaching, many people reached out to ask whether their office or business would be closing.
The United States Postal Service said it would continue operating as normal over the new holiday. Officials said they would not be able to observe it appropriately on such short notice, and that they would not be able to stop operations since the USPS is part of national infrastructure.
The USPS's full statement can be read below:
The U.S. Postal Service is fully supportive of the new Juneteenth National Independence Day Act and making June 19 a federal holiday. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cease the operations of the Postal Service to accommodate an observance over the next 24-48 hours. We are part of the nation’s critical infrastructure and our customers are relying on us to deliver our essential services. Closing down our operations without providing appropriate time would lead to operational disruptions and be a disservice to our customers and those who rely upon us. For that reason, the Postal Service will be operating on June 18 and 19, 2021, on a normal schedule, serving our customers to the best of our ability.
The City of Knoxville also said that it expects its offices to be open over Juneteenth since they do not follow the federal holiday schedule.
However, the Tennessee Valley Authority said its employees would not work Friday to observe Juneteenth, which falls on a Saturday this year. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management said most federal employees will observe the holiday on Friday.