Juneteenth celebrates the day when the last enslaved people in Texas learned they were free on June 19, 1865, nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared all enslaved people in states that had seceded from the Union “shall be free” during the Civil War. In 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday in the United States after President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. 

In a statement posted last year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said that while it was fully supportive of the new federal holiday, it was unable to cease operations to nationally observe Juneteenth on June 19, 2021, due to short notice, so post offices across the country remained open on that day. But, will the post office be closed this year in observance of the Juneteenth holiday? 

Juneteenth, which falls on a Sunday this year, will be nationally observed on Monday, June 20.  

In an email, a USPS spokesperson told VERIFY “post offices will be closed on June 20 for the observation of the Juneteenth holiday.” Holiday closure information related to Juneteenth is also posted on the USPS website. 

In February, the USPS revised its Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) to add the observance of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, according to the USPS Policies, Procedures, and Forms Updates webpage. 

“Beginning in 2022, the Postal Service will recognize the Juneteenth National Independence Day as a holiday eligible to full-time and part-time career employees,” the USPS writes. 

Along with the post office, other federal offices and services will be closed on June 20 in observance of Juneteenth.

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