Will County executive proclamation recognizes Juneteenth

Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant has issued a proclamation recognizing Wednesday as Juneteenth Day of Observance in Will County.

“Will County is proudly joining communities across the country in celebrating Juneteenth and reflecting on the history of emancipation,” Bertino-Tarrant said in a news release announcing the proclamation, which she signed Tuesday. “For over 150 years, this holiday has served as an opportunity to honor the legacies of those who fought for freedom from slavery.”

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger in Texas issued a proclamation ordering the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved Black people.

Granger’s proclamation, issued after the Civil War ended and Union troops began to occupy Southern states, was based on the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, when the war was still being fought and Southern states still in rebellion did not recognize the president’s order to end slavery.

The war ended on April 9, 1865, barely two months before Granger’s proclamation, with the South’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865, prolonging uncertainty about the future of the nation and slavery as Granger issued his proclamation.

Juneteenth has grown to become the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S., according to the release from Bertino-Tarrant.

In her proclamation, Bertino-Tarrant described Juneteenth as an “opportunity for everyone in Will County to celebrate the emancipation of Black Americans and to condemn the history of slavery in the United States of America.”

Juneteenth is a recognized county holiday for Will County government. All county buildings will be closed Wednesday with the exception of essential county services and public safety operations.

Bertino-Tarrant’s proclamation can be read in full at WillCounty.gov.