RALEIGH — North Carolina’s Wake County says it’s the first in the state to make Juneteenth a paid county holiday.
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that the county’s Board of Commissioners voted to approve the holiday during a virtual meeting on Monday.
Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage. The holiday has reached a new level of recognition in the wake of protests across the country against racism, police brutality and other inequities.
Wake County said in a news release that it’s the first to make Juneteenth a paid holiday in the state. The county has more than 4,000 employees. The cost of adding the holiday will be more than $500,000 a year.
The city of Raleigh is among other localities in the region that are expected to discuss or vote on recognizing Juneteenth as an official holiday.