President Drake Makes Juneteenth a UC Holiday

UC President Drake has announced that Juneteenth is now a UC holiday.

"President Biden declared a federal holiday for Juneteenth, the day that celebrates and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. This is an historic moment for our nation — 156 years in the making...," President Drake said. "I intend to immediately add this to the University of California’s calendar of holidays. This year we will observe this holiday on Monday, June 28th."

UC Davis Chancellor Gary May also released a statement about Juneteenth.

More about Juneteenth

On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and informed enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended and that they were now free. This news came two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which became law on January 1, 1863. Because of the small number of Union troops in Texas in 1863 to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery still remained in place until what is now known as Juneteenth.

Today, Juneteenth commemorates the freedom of African American people and is a time to celebrate the achievements of African Americans as well as a time to educate ourselves about the struggles they still face today in America.