06/18/2026
CSI Head Start/Early Head Start centers will be closed on Friday, June 19th. This is to commemorate and recognize Juneteenth. A little history as told by President Dean Fisher of the College of Southern Idaho:
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, announcing that enslaved people there were free. This came more than two years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. Since Texas was far removed from Union lines and enforcement on the Proclamation had lagged, many enslavers deliberately withheld the emancipation news to extract additional labor.
For formerly enslaved Texans, the day became known as "Jubilee Day," marked by prayer gatherings, readings of the proclamation, and family celebrations featuring red foods and drinks as symbols of resilience and bloodshed endured. As Black Texans migrated to other states, especially during the Great Migration, the tradition spread nationally.
Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday in 1980, and other states gradually followed over the next several decades. The holiday gained renewed national attention in 2020, and in June 2021 President Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day as a federal holiday, the first new holiday created since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. The history is worth remembering as we enjoy a break this weekend.
