Tulsa Board of Education vote to make Juneteenth a paid holiday

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Board of Education approved the recommendation to make Friday, June 19 – Juneteenth – a paid holiday for Tulsa Public School employees.

“We believe that we have a moral obligation to stand alongside our Black and Brown brothers and sisters and act boldly to disrupt and dismantle the systems of oppression that plague our city, our state, and our country,” a Facebook post from the board reads.

Board members say marking Juneteenth as a paid holiday is an important step in showing respect to employees and other cultures overall.

Juneteenth marks the day approximately 200,000 slaves received the news of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

You can learn more here.