More workplaces, states recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday off: Where Michigan stands

An increasing number of state, local governments and private employers are recognizing Juneteenth — the first new national holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983 — as a paid-day off, giving workers, at least this year, a three day weekend.

But there are still many workplaces that don’t, or as hopeful workers say, don't — yet.

During a virtual United Auto Workers meeting Friday morning, union president Shawn Fain replied to a participant who commented, "Hopefully we get Juneteenth added to the holiday calendar." Fain said: "I agree 100%. And that’s something we’ll have to look forward to in the bargaining."

For many of the holiday's supporters, Juneteenth — which has been called "America's second Independence Day" —represents more than another day off from work with pay. It is a celebration of the end of slavery, and a reminder that change in America often requires persistent, unyielding commitment, pressure, education, faith and agitation.

Last year, one nationwide analysis, the Employee Benefits Survey taken every two years by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, found that 30% of private employers offered Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Among them are Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Gannett, which owns the Free Press.

Some companies like DTE Energy, instead of recognizing June 19 as a holiday off for everyone, offer their employees additional days off during the year so they "may choose to use for holidays that are most meaningful to them, such as Juneteenth."

Still, less than a third of companies nationwide was more, the foundation said, than was forecast in 2020.

That year, only 8% of organizations said they offered Juneteenth off. The percentage is expected to increase again next year when the survey is taken, human resource experts say, as more companies update their policies to try to enhance workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.

Celebrations started in Texas

Juneteenth — a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth" — became a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed a bill finally recognizing it. It celebrates the anniversary of when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order in 1865 that proclaimed freedom for slaves in Texas.

It marks the day, more than two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed they had been freed.

In 1866, celebrations were held in Galveston. They spread throughout Texas, the South and other parts of America. But the holiday didn't gain enough widespread support to become a federal holiday until 2020, amid nationwide protests after the police killings of several Black Americans, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

"By making Juneteenth a federal holiday," Biden said when he signed the bill, "all Americans can feel the power of this day, and learn from our history, and celebrate progress, and grapple with the distance we've come but the distance we have to travel."

More: Juneteenth 2023: Here's where to celebrate in metro Detroit

More: Juneteenth would be a state holiday under House-passed bills

In addition, every state has, at some point, passed a resolution recognizing Juneteenth at least as a day of observance, but not all of them count Juneteenth among their official public holidays or offer a day off, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C.

This year, the center said, 28 states and the District of Columbia have or are legally recognizing Juneteenth as a public holiday, meaning state government offices are closed and state workers have a paid day, according to an analysis of state human resources websites, state legislation and news articles found.

Resolve to keep pressing on

In Michigan, state representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, a state public holiday. The state senate had already approved it a similar measure. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proclaimed Juneteenth a court holiday and a holiday for state employees last year, but the Legislature's action is expected to make it permanent.

Local governments often follow — and in a few are ahead of — what their state legislatures pass.

In May, the Detroit City Council unanimously voted to add Juneteenth to the city's list of paid holidays.

Company employees and community residents seeking Juneteenth as a paid holiday might find inspiration in John Conyers Jr., who served for 53 years in Washington and proposed a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, four days after King was assassinated.

A Detroiter, the late U.S. representative reintroduced the legislation every year for 15 years until it finally passed.

In 1979, the 50th anniversary of King's birth, the bill came to a vote in the House. The proposal had the support of then-President Jimmy Carter, King's widow Coretta Scott King and 300,000 other people who had signed a petition, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

It still failed. But Conyers and others didn't give up.

The next year, Motown's Stevie Wonder put "Happy Birthday" on his "Hotter than July" album, as an ode to King. Wonder and Coretta Scott King rallied support for an MLK holiday, and held a benefit concert on the National Mall, where King delivered his "I have a Dream" speech.

When the bill made it to the house floor again in 1983, it passed.

It also passed in the Senate, and President Ronald Reagan, who said he "would have preferred a non-holiday in King's honor," announced that "since they seem bent on making it a national holiday, I believe the symbolism of that day is important enough that I will sign that legislation when it reaches my desk."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. Free Press reporters Adrienne Roberts, Jamie L. LaReau, Arpan Lobo, Susan Selasky, Lily Altavena, Chanel Stitt and Dana Afana contributed.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Juneteenth in Michigan: Where it stands, what states are doing