Governor Andy Beshear has posthumously pardoned 43 individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned for helping enslaved people escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad, according to an announcement from the Office of the Governor.

The proclamation coincides with Beshear's designation of June 19, 2026, as Juneteenth in Kentucky, declaring it an executive branch holiday. All executive branch offices will be closed to observe the date that commemorates when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom in 1865.

The posthumous pardons recognize individuals who faced legal persecution under slavery-era laws that criminalized assisting fugitive enslaved people. Kentucky was a slave state that served as a critical juncture in the Underground Railroad network, with an estimated 100,000 slaves escaping bondage between 1810 and 1850. More fugitives escaped through the Ohio River Valley borderland than any other region of the United States.

Beshear's action follows a national trend. Delaware posthumously pardoned Samuel Burris, a free Black man convicted in 1847 of aiding runaway slaves, while Illinois pardoned three abolitionists convicted over 170 years ago for working on the Underground Railroad. Beshear had previously demonstrated commitment to criminal justice reform, calling on governors to pardon those serving time for marijuana possession and restoring voting rights to over 140,000 convicted felons in 2019.

The governor's office statement emphasizes that the pardons correct a historic wrong, clearing the records of those whose only crime was acting on moral conviction to help enslaved people achieve freedom.