Since the federal workforce is heavily overrepresented with black workers (18.2% of the federal workforce versus 12.6% of the population), the words "disparate impact" come to mind, benefitting African Americans with a paid holiday that not too many other employees get, judging by the fact that I was able to book two appointments with service providers tomorrow before I even realized Monday was holiday.

Juneteenth, we are told, commemorates the end of slavery, even though President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was issued two-and-half-years earlier.

As Henry Louis Gates wrote, explaining the holiday:

The First Juneteenth

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere." —General Orders, Number 3; Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, June 19, 1865