The Ongoing Struggle for Juneteenth Recognition in Florida and Beyond

Florida state workers do not have Juneteenth as an official state holiday, despite recognizing it as a day of special observance since the 1990s. Former State Senator Randolph Bracy ran a bill seeking to add Juneteenth to the list of official state holidays in 2021 and 2022, but it faced pushback from Florida historians and descendants of enslaved Floridians who favored recognizing May 20th as the official Emancipation Day for the State of Florida. At the same time, Florida recognizes some controversial state holidays including the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis along with Confederate Memorial Day.