Dr. Lisa Herring, Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, announced on Twitter Friday that the school district will hold Juneteenth as an “official district holiday.”
“In honor of #Juneteenth and in alignment with its status as a federal holiday, APS is adopting Juneteenth as an official district holiday. Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, all APS schools and offices will be closed for the Juneteenth holiday!”
The bill (Juneteenth National Independence Day Act) for the holiday was signed Thursday by President Joe Biden, and the date for the holiday is June 19th.
Juneteenth represents a celebration of the end of slavery, and the holiday can also be seen as a type of Independence Day, for those whose ancestors were enslaved. The recently added federal holiday is the source of much conversation, after the many protests over the last year, concerning police brutality, racism and the perceived undervalued lives of people of color.