Indianapolis Recognizes Juneteenth, Indigenous Peoples Day as Employee Holidays

Indianapolis will recognize Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples Day as employee holidays in 2021, among several changes to the holiday schedule the City-County Council approved earlier this month.

Juneteenth, observed June 19, celebrates the day in 1865 that enslaved people in Texas first learned they were free from the Emancipation Proclamation signed in 1863. Indigenous Peoples Day, which is observed on the second Monday of October, honors Native American history.

“Juneteenth should be a day that we celebrate in this country, just like we do July 4th,” council member Jared Evans told council members Dec. 7, “for the past mistakes that we’ve made and we own up to. And it should be a holiday that we should’ve been celebrating years and decades ago.”

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The council’s five Republicans voted against the proposal, with some saying the decision should have had more discussion in committee about which holidays to choose.

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