Interest in the June holidays has dropped significantly compared to 2021, according to new data.
Data from the NewsWhip Spike real-time media monitoring platform, compiled by Newsweek, compared public and media interest in Juneteenth between 2021 and 2022.
Focusing on the days leading up to the holidays, by 2022, there had been a 91% drop in social interactions and a 30% drop in produced articles.
The data determines the public interest in the number of social media interactions in the articles and the interest of the media such as the number of articles published.
In the six days leading up to Juneteenth 2022, there were 3,495,502 fewer social interactions and 6,681 fewer articles in 2022.
For 2021, there was a total public interest of 3,830,147, significantly higher than its 2022 total of 334,645.
In terms of media interest, the data showed a total of 22,061 articles for the period 2021, again higher than its 2022 total of 15,380.
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and its name comes from the date of the historic event: June 19, 1865. On that day, the 250,000 African Americans still enslaved were told that the war Civil was over and they had been legally released.
Congress turned the event into a federal holiday on June 16, 2021, and President Joe Biden signed it into law the next day.
Despite its historical significance, holidays are not universally recognized in all U.S. states as paid holidays.
About 24 states and the District of Columbia will legally recognize Juneteenth as a holiday this year, according to a Pew Research Center analysis that more states expect to recognize as a paid holiday next year.
June 19 falls on a weekend this year, so some states celebrate it on different days this week. Since the holidays were signed as federal law, several states have had Juneteenth as a paid vacation for employees.
According to The Pew Charitable Trusts:
- New York,
- Maine,
- Louisiana,
- Illinois,
- Oregon,
- Massachusetts,
- Virginia,
- Washington, i
- Texas, which was the first state to officially recognize the party in 1980.
- Georgia,
- Ohio,
- Nebraska,
- Maryland,
- South Dakota,
- Colorado,
- Connecticut i
- Delaware,
- Alabama recently recognized Juneteenth as a paid state holiday, according to News Observer.
However, some states treat Juneteenth as a day of remembrance or observation instead of a paid legal holiday. These states include Tennessee, Florida, California, South Carolina and Mississppi.
Interested in learning more about Juneteenth? Here’s what you need to know.
This is how Juneteenth went from dream to reality.
When it became an official holiday, however, not all blacks were impressed; here’s why.
people carry Juneteenth flags as they march during a celebration of Juneteenth’s recreation in Galveston, Texas, June 19, 2021. Juneteenth’s interest diminishes as the day off continues to be difficult for most northerners. americans t / Getty