Familiarity with Juneteenth grows in year since federal holiday designation: Gallup

More Americans know at least a little about Juneteenth since it was designated as a federal holiday last year, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The survey from Gallup showed that 88 percent of respondents said they knew at least a little bit about Juneteenth, compared to 71 percent in May 2021. 

More specifically, 29 percent in the new poll said they knew a little bit, 42 percent knew some and 17 percent knew a lot.

Eleven percent knew nothing at all, down from 28 percent who knew nothing in May of last year. 

At that time, 34 percent knew a little bit about the holiday, 25 percent knew some and 12 percent knew a lot. 

The new survey also showed that 45 percent of respondents agreed that Juneteenth should be a federal holiday, up 10 points from the 2021 poll. 

Additionally, 63 percent now say public schools should teach about the day in their curriculum, up from 49 percent last year.

When broken down by race, 60 percent of white and Hispanic respondents in the new poll each said Juneteenth should be included in history curriculums, as did 86 percent of Black adults, according to Gallup.

The survey, conducted between April 24 and May 17, included 5,971 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

The 2021 poll came just about a month before Congress passed legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

The holiday marks the day — June 19, 1865 — when enslaved people in Texas were informed of their freedom after Robert E. Lee surrendered in the Civil War. It is also known as “Emancipation Day.”