PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has declared Friday a holiday for state workers in honor of Juneteenth. Noem said her decision is in response to legislation signed Thursday by President Joe Biden establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.
It’s meant to remember June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. That was about 2 1/2 years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states.
Noem says she “hopes state employees take the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful South Dakota weather on their day off.”
(By the Associated Press.)
