Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington. (Photo by LRC Public Information)
Kentucky Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington, says he will file legislation in 2025 to try and establish Juneteenth as an official state holiday.?
Past efforts to do so have failed.?
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, commemorating the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free in Galveston, Texas.?
President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, in 1863, but it was not immediately enforced in many areas of the south.?
In late May, Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order making Juneteenth an executive branch holiday.?
Meanwhile, the Legislative Research Commission announced in early June it will “remain open during regular office hours” on Juneteenth and “committee meetings for that day will proceed as scheduled.”?
There are two committee meetings scheduled for that day.?
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Sarah Ladd
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist from West Kentucky who's covered everything from crime to higher education. She spent nearly two years on the metro breaking news desk at The Courier Journal. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since. As the Kentucky Lantern's health reporter, she focuses on mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, children's welfare, COVID-19 and more.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
