President,
Joe Biden signed the law on Thursday to make Juneteenth a federal holiday on June 19 in commemoration
of the end of slavery in the United States.
This is the first approved national holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983, and federal employees will be able to enjoy it this Friday (since June 19 is Saturday this year).
"By making Juneteenth a federal holiday, all Americans can feel the power of this day and learn from our history, celebrate progress, and grapple with the distance we have traveled, and the distance we still have to travel," Biden told sign the law passed by Congress this week.
"The great nations do not ignore their most painful moments," he added.
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June 19, known as Emancipation Day, commemorates the end of slavery although it was neither the day it was officially banned nor the last black people were freed.
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The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in September 1862 to free the slaves of the southern states, and it went into effect in January of the following year.
But the Civil War didn't end until 1965, when Confederate soldiers surrendered.
The news, however, did not reach many slavery victims until much later.
In the case of Galveston, Texas, it happened on June 19, which is when Juneteenth is commemorated.
Biden said after signing Thursday that the new law will count as one of the highest honors during his presidency, adding: "I hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we treat each other."
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, was the sponsor of 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, and it was approved on Wednesday.
Despite the broad consensus,
more than a dozen Republican congressmen opposed it.
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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
.
With information from The Associated Press.
