Juneteenth Observance Published June 17, 2021 319 RW GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, ND -- Warriors of the North, President Biden has signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing June 19 as a federal holiday. The federal government has declared an observance of the federal holiday on Friday, June 18. Federal employees are authorized to observe the Juneteenth holiday on Friday, June 18, 2021, unless required for mission requirements. Please refer to your local leadership on mission requirements, and note the following program closures and schedule updates. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States annually on June 19. In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. Thank you Warriors – enjoy your Holiday Weekend!