Efforts to make Juneteenth a Florida state holiday have failed

On June 19, Americans will celebrate Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day when the last remaining enslaved Black people in the United States were finally told they were free.

But while Juneteenth was made a federal holiday by Congress and President Joe Biden in 2021, it's not an official Florida state holiday. Juneteenth is included in Florida statutes as a special observance, one of about 40.

In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a resolution calling upon Floridians to honor Juneteenth as “an important opportunity to honor the principles of the Declaration of Independence and celebrate the achievements and contributions African Americans have made, and continue to make, in Florida and across our Nation."

But DeSantis has not issued a Juneteenth resolution or proclamation since. Repeated attempts to make Juneteenth an official state holiday have failed in the Florida Legislature. The last was in 2022 .

Instead, some state officials recognize a different emancipation day: Florida's.

What is Juneteenth?

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in the Confederate States of America as of Jan. 1, 1863.

But it was largely ignored since it couldn't be enforced unless the United States won the Civil War, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture . Southern and border states continued enslaving people, and many Black people in the South fought to free themselves and others and escape to free states, risking retaliation and death.

Finally, on June 19, 1865, more than two months after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia and nearly 2½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived at the last remaining bastion of slavery in Galveston Bay, Texas, with a message for the more than a quarter of a million enslaved Black people there.

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free," Granger announced.

The first Juneteenth was held in Galveston the next year. Celebrations were low-key affairs, often kept to church gatherings and community events. Despite gaining their freedom, the lot of Black Americans was not dramatically improved for decades as they battled discrimination, lack of resources, Jim Crow laws, lynchings and more.

It wasn't until the civil rights marches of the 60s and 70s that Juneteenth became a larger celebration, and it gained more prominence in 2020 with the police murder of George Floyd and the rising public awareness of police brutality.

Does Florida observe Juneteenth?

Every U.S. state has recognized Juneteenth as a holiday or observance, and "at least 28 states and the District of Columbia have designated Juneteenth as a permanent paid and/or legal holiday" at least once, according to the Congressional Research Service .

In 1980, Texas was the first state to officially observe it, but Florida was the second, well before the rest of the country.

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles signed the Juneteenth Observance Bill into law in May 1991, calling on "public officials, schools, private organizations, and all citizens to honor the historic significance” of June 19.

However, while some local governments have declared Juneteenth a recognized holiday and closed offices , the state of Florida, along with states like California, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and more than two dozen others, does not officially recognize the holiday and doesn’t include the date on official state calendars as a paid holiday.

What is Emancipation Day in Florida?

Instead, like in many other states, Florida officials celebrate the day slavery ended inside its borders .

Union Gen. Edward M. McCook announced the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee on May 20, 1865 , a little less than a month before the Galveston announcement.

May 20 is honored in many Florida cities and counties as Emancipation Day (although it isn't a paid holiday, either, and, unlike Juneteenth, is not listed in Florida statutes).

“In Tallahassee and the surrounding area, Emancipation Day has been celebrated on the 20th of May for 160 years," Secretary of State Cord Byrd said in May . "Keeping this tradition alive brings communities together in the spirit of history and freedom.”

Tampa celebrates an even earlier date.

On May 6, 1864, federal forces — including some Black soldiers — recaptured Fort Brooke from the Confederacy and liberated the enslaved people in the city, according to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg . The next year, local newspapers reported, Black farmers borrowed American flags to march through the city a full year before the first Juneteenth.

Since then, Tampa has proudly celebrated its Emancipation Day on May 6.

What are the legal holidays in Florida?

The Friday after Thanksgiving is also a paid holiday.

This year, DeSantis signed a bill establishing Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jan. 27 is the day allied forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland 80 years ago.