Press Release: Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address, Celebrates Juneteenth Across Wisconsin

State of Wisconsin sent this bulletin at 06/18/2026 08:00 AM CDT
Office of Governor Tony Evers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 18, 2026
Contact: GovPress@wisconsin.gov 
 
Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address, Celebrates Juneteenth Across Wisconsin
 
Audio File of Radio Address.

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered his weekly radio address celebrating Juneteenth across Wisconsin. Gov. Evers also signed Executive Order #299, raising the Juneteenth Flag at the Wisconsin State Capitol for the seventh year in a row. Gov. Evers also proclaimed June 19, 2026, as “Juneteenth” throughout the state of Wisconsin.

On June 19, 1865, more than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to declare the end of slavery, freeing the 250,000 people who continued to be enslaved there. Now, more than 160 years later, June 19 has been known as Juneteenth and is one of the oldest and most popular annual commemorations of the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth is formally recognized and celebrated in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with Wisconsin joining as the 32nd state to recognize this day in 2009. In 2020, Gov. Evers ordered the Juneteenth Flag to be flown at the State Capitol for the first time in state history. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

A transcript of the governor’s radio address is available below.

Hey there, folks! Governor Tony Evers here.

This week, we’re celebrating Juneteenth here in Wisconsin and across the nation.

Juneteenth is the celebration of the official end to slavery in our country and the day that Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and freed 250,000 people.

While Juneteenth has been celebrated by communities all across the country for over 150 years, it became an official federal holiday in 2021.

Here in Wisconsin, we were the 32nd state to formally recognize Juneteenth in 2009, and while we are still working to make it an official state holiday, I’m proud to raise the Juneteenth Flag at the State Capitol each year in celebration.

Folks, we celebrate Juneteenth because it is a celebration of freedom, and it’s a reflection on our nation’s collective past that cannot be separated from our modern history.

It’s an acknowledgment that many of the injustices and inequities Black Americans face today are deeply entrenched in our institutions and of the work we must do together to change that.

It is a reckoning with one of the most shameful parts of our past and celebration of the promise of a brighter, freer future for every person.

Now more than ever, we must not shy away from the realities faced by communities who have felt the disproportionate impacts of centuries of injustice.

Now more than ever, we must work towards a future where every family—no matter their background, race, ZIP code, or socioeconomic status—has the tools and resources to thrive.

And now more than ever, as leaders in D.C. try to sow division and hate, we must remember that there is more that unites us than divides us and that our diversity is our strength. It always has been.

With that, happy Juneteenth, Wisconsin! Take care.
 
An online version of this release is available here.
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