By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Juneteenth is Monday, June 19th.
In Covington, Juneteenth is a month-long celebration.
Thanks to Phyllis Taylor, the VP of the Northern Kentucky Juneteenth Committee.
“Last year, Phyllis went to the city of Covington,” Robin Williams, a friend and committee member, told the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “She asked the city to hang the Juneteenth flag.”
They did that – and more.
The City of Covington made Juneteenth a holiday.
The committee has raised the flag at Covington’s Randolph Park – and it is proudly displayed for the entire month.
In 2021, Juneteenth became recognized as a federal holiday in the United States.
For many Black families and communities across the nation, Juneteenth is a well-known time to celebrate liberation, culture and joy.
While Juneteenth is the day signifying “freedom” for African Americans due to the legal abolition of slavery, true freedom for African Americans has never been fully realized in this country. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared a formal end to slavery in the United States. However, change was not instant after the proclamation.
Nearly two-and-a-half-years later, on June 19, 1865, the enslaved African Americans of Galveston, Texas got the news by way of the Union army troops that freedom had come at last.
The next year, the people of Galveston commemorated that day as Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom. Since then, it’s been observed in communities and states as a holiday, but officially recognized as a federal holiday in 2021.
Congress passed The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in June, 2021, a day after the Senate passed the bill with unanimous consent. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on June 17 – two days before Juneteenth.
The federal government followed the lead of 47 states that already recognized Juneteenth.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., first introduced the Juneteenth bill in 2020 in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor, but it did not pass.
“Today’s Senate passage of our legislation to commemorate Juneteenth as a federal holiday will address this long-ignored gap in our history, recognized the wrong that was done, acknowledge the pain and suffering of generations of slaves and their descendants, and finally celebrate their freedom,” Markey said on June 17 of last year.
Under the act, federal employees are granted a day off on June. This year’s work reprieve falls on Monday, June 19.
For Covington – it’s a month-long celebration.