Ralph Northam, Va. gov., to make Juneteenth a paid holiday in Virginia

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday he would propose legislation to make Juneteenth a paid state holiday.

“Juneteenth is the oldest celebration of the end of slavery in the United States,” Mr. Northam said at the press conference. “Virginia has acknowledged this with a written proclamation, which is nice, but we need to do much more.”

The Democratic governor said the commemoration will start this Friday with a paid day off for executive branch employees.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when all enslaved blacks learned they had been freed when Union soldiers read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas.