Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a bill that makes Juneteenth Day a legal holiday in Wisconsin.

Juneteenth Day events are held in communities around the country to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day when Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas, to announce the Civil War was over and that slaves were free.

On Tuesday, Doyle signed the measure in Milwaukee, which has celebrated Juneteenth Day since the 1970s. In Kenosha, Juneteenth was first formally celebrated in 1987 when it was initiated by the late civil rights activist Thelma Orr, who was then the director of the Urban League office in the city.