The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the nation.
The House of Representatives
voted 415 in favor and 14 against
this Wednesday so that June 19 (known as
Juneteenth,
a mixture of June and nineteenth in English) is the twelfth day of federal holiday.
The bill will now go to the desk of President Joe Biden, who will sign it into law.
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June 19, also known as Liberation Day or Emancipation Day, marks
the day the last enslaved black men found out they were free.
Although Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, the news did not reach slavery victims until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas.
That was almost two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which nominally freed slaves in the southern states.
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The American Civil War or of secession was fought between 1861 and 1865 between Confederates and Unionists, among other causes, because the former did not want to end slavery.
This is the first national holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983
.
"Our federal holidays are purposely few and recognize the most important milestones," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York.
"I cannot think of a more important milestone to commemorate than the end of slavery in America," he added.
Protesters commemorate Liberation Day with a march in Brooklyn, New York, on June 19, 2020.
The Senate passed the bill Tuesday under a legislative procedure known as unanimous consent, which speeds up the legislative approval process as long as no senator vetoes the bill.
Senator Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, sponsored the proposal, which had 60 other co-sponsors.
Democratic leaders mobilized to bring the bill to a vote in the Lower House as soon as possible.
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Despite the broad consensus,
some Republican senators opposed this effort.
For Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Montana, the creation of the federal holiday was an effort to celebrate identity politics.
"As I believe in treating everyone the same, regardless of race, and that we must focus on what unites us rather than our differences, I will vote no," he explained in a press release.
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Most states already recognize June 19 as a public holiday or officially commemorate it.
In Texas, New York, Virginia and Washington it is a paid holiday for all state employees.
According to the legislation, the official name of the holiday will be
June 19 National Independence Day
.
Representative Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, said he would vote for the law and supported the holiday, but was upset that the official name included the word independence instead of emancipation.
"Why would the Democrats want to politicize this by co-opting the name of our holy holiday of Independence Day?"
Higgins said.
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"I want to tell my white colleagues on the other side, getting their independence from being enslaved in a country is different than a country getting the independence to govern itself," said Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Michigan.
He added: "We have a responsibility to teach each generation of black and white Americans the pride of a people who have survived, resisted and triumphed in these United States of America despite slavery."
With information from The Associated Press.