State legislature OKs measure making Juneteenth a state holiday

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Legislature has passed a measure that makes Juneteenth a state holiday.

The measure making June 19 a state paid holiday passed the Democratic-led Senate on a bipartisan 47-1 vote and now heads to Governor Jay Inslee for his signature.

The House passed the measure in February on an 89-9 vote.

Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, where Union soldiers brought them the news two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.