LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville's water company is adding a new holiday for its workers: Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery.
The Louisville Water Co., which serves about a million customers in the city and surrounding counties, said the “civil unrest” in the community prompted discussions about diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We want our employees to know that this day is important to the company and to reflect upon what it signifies in our history — the ending of slavery in this country," said Spencer Bruce, Louisville Water's president.
The day commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier.
However, not everyone gained freedom on Juneteenth. In Kentucky, a Union state, slavery continued until December 1865, when federal law forced enslavers in the state to emancipate enslaved people when the 13th Amendment had the approval of three-fourths of the states, ending the practice of slavery in the Union.
Louisville Water employees will be given Friday off this year, since the holiday falls on Saturday.
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