Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the emancipation of the last of the enslaved peoples in the United States in Texas in 1865 following President Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective on January 1, 1863. Due to Texas’ size, many areas that still practiced slavery were very isolated, so it took almost 2 and a half years for the proclamation to be fully enforced in Texas, until June 19th, 1865 when it finally was. Juneteenth has gone by a handful of different names over the years but it still celebrates the same jubilant moment in our history and for that we are happy to celebrate.
Roth Jackson in our continuing efforts to be inclusive and reflective on our history and our role in the community has elected to observe Juneteenth as a firm holiday. Our offices will be closed on Friday, June 18th, 2021 in observance of the holiday that falls on Saturday, June 19th this year. We have also elected as a firm to no longer retain Columbus Day as a holiday out of respect for the indigenous peoples of the United States.
For more information on Juneteenth as a holiday, its history and how to celebrate you can go to https://juneteenth.com/