Baker County Libraries closed today

By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Monday, June 20th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

BAKER COUNTY – (Release from Baker County Library District) Baker County libraries will be closed on Monday, June 20 2022, for the observed date of the new Juneteenth holiday. State and federal legislation made Juneteenth a holiday in 2021.

For over 150 years, Juneteenth – a combination of “June” and “nineteenth” – has been a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. On Juneteenth 1865, Union soldiers entered Galveston, Texas, and notified those enslaved that they had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. That proclamation became official on January 1, 1863, more than two years earlier.

Access to online accounts and digital collections for downloading ebooks and audiobooks will remain available while the library is closed on the 20th.