Joe Biden Approves of Juneteenth National Independence Day as a National Holiday and Will Be Observed Each Year on June 19
June 17, 2021
WASHINGTON (AGN.News) – President Joe Biden has signed into law the creation of Juneteenth National Independence Day as a national holiday to be celebrated each year on June 19. As a national holiday, Juneteenth will be the 11th federal national holiday.
On Tuesday, June 15 the US Senate Passed the 2021 Juneteenth bill, titled the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. The bill has 60 Senate cosponsors and was passed after receiving approval through unanimous consent in the Senate.
On Wednesday, June 16, 2021, the United States House of Representatives voted and passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in a 415-14 vote.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth celebrates the end of non-penal slavery on June 19, 1865. This date marked the official end of slavery in America. On June 19, 1865 over 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform the last remaining slaves and plantation owners that slavery in America was over, ended.
Juneteenth is an annual holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Originating in Texas, it is now celebrated annually in this 21st century on the 19th of June throughout the United States as a national holiday.
Why Juneteenth is important to America
That was not the end of slavery in America. The end of slavery had to wait another 6 months when the Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution would abolish slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
The amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas said it best, “Now more than ever, we need to learn from our history and continue to form a more perfect union.”
Making Juneteenth a national holiday is a positive step in the healing of “America’s racial wounds” brought on by the misunderstanding and misapplication of the stated fact that “all men are created equal” as the U.S. Constitution so well expressed.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution confirms the value of all citizens stating, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
With this message in mind, the Chief Executive of the United States, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation affirming the value of all Americans. Juneteenth commemorates this value as Union Army Major General Gordon Granger, under orders of President Lincoln, with over 2,000 federal troops, announcing federal orders at Ashton Villa on the corner of 24th Street and 2328 Broadway Street in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming that all slaves in Texas (and all America) were free.
General Granger’s 2,000 plus federal troops marched through Galveston reading General Order No. 3 first at the Union Army Headquarters located at Strand Street and 22nd Street, then at the 1861 Custom House and courthouse before marching to the Negro Church on Broadway (renamed Reedy Chapel-AME Church). These troops were in Galveston to enforce the emancipation of slaves. For more information, please go here.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, first introduced the bill last spring at the height of racial tension in the country following the murder of George Floyd, but they could not garner the support needed. Now, about a year later, the bill included 18 GOP co-sponsors.
“It has been a state holiday in Texas for more than 40 years,” Cornyn tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Now more than ever, we need to learn from our history and continue to form a more perfect union.”
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