(San Jose, CA) — Santa Clara County has become the first county in California to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for county workers. County Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to declare June 19th, “Juneteenth Day,” to commemorate the end of slavery and honor African American history. It was June 19th, 1865, that slaves in Texas learned they had been freed two years earlier by the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln.
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