RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s Wake County says it’s the first in the state to make Juneteenth a paid county holiday.
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that the county’s Board of Commissioners voted to approve the holiday during a virtual meeting on Monday.
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Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage. The holiday has reached a new level of recognition in the wake of protests across the country against racism and police brutality.
Wake County said in a news release that it’s the first to make Juneteenth a paid holiday in the state. The county has more than 4,000 employees.
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