Juneteenth rally in downtown St. Louis

Mia Williams, of St. Louis, dances with a large group in the middle of Tucker Boulevard on Friday, June 19, 2020, in front of St. Louis City Hall during a Juneteenth celebration organized by ExpectUs police reform demonstrators. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com

Christian Gooden

CLAYTON — The governing board of St. Louis County’s civil service system officially made June 19 a countywide holiday to recognize Juneteenth, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the U.S. 

The County Civil Service Commission on Thursday voted to approve County Executive Sam Page’s request to make the holiday official for government employees. Page last year closed government offices, and the County Council adopted a nonbinding resolution to recognize the Juneteenth holiday.

Juneteenth is also an official holiday in St. Louis, a spokesman for Mayor Lyda Krewson said.

Krewson announced plans last year to make the holiday official for city employees in 2021, after Comptroller Darlene Green gave her employees a half-day off to recognize the holiday. The Board of Aldermen also adopted a nonbinding resolution calling for the city make Juneteenth official.  

The calls to formally recognize Juneteenth last year came amid protests for racial justice in the region, which included marches on June 19 in downtown St. Louis and in East St. Louis. 

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 the date when African Americans in the Texas Gulf Coast city of Galveston were among the last enslaved people in the country to be told by federal troops of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by then-President Abraham Lincoln.

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