Flint, MI– The Flint City Council Nov. 12 unanimously approved adding Juneteenth to the list of holidays in the Code of the City of Flint.
The council passed a resolution in June to declare Juneteenth an official city holiday, but last night’s vote was the last step to make it official.
Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery became official January 1, 1963, but it wasn’t for another two and a half years on June 19, 1965 that this news was brought to the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.
Flint residents along with many others across the nation celebrated Juneteenth earlier this year, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a proclamation declaring June 19 as Juneteenth Celebration Day in Michigan.
City Attorney Angela Wheeler said since the approval of the resolution in June, the city was able to work that resolution into the union agreement, and also apply it to other employees not in the union.
According to a press release from the city from June 24, Juneteenth as an official holiday, will be a paid day off for employees beginning in 2021, and Flint City Hall will be closed.