Kansas will designate Juneteenth as a state holiday, joining 28 other states and the District of Columbia.
In a news release on Tuesday, the governor's office said that establishing the state holiday “provides Kansans an opportunity to celebrate our state's diversity and honor the ongoing struggles for racial equality.”
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free.
In 2021, a bill was passed by Congress and signed into law that sets aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday.