- "Juneteenth", the day commemorating the end of legal enslavement of black Americans, has been declared a federal holiday.
- It marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been made free two years earlier.
- The US House of Representatives approved the bill on a vote of 415-14. The Senate unanimously passed the bill on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed and sent to President Joe Biden a bill making June 19, or "Juneteenth", a federal holiday commemorating the end of legal enslavement of black Americans.
Biden plans to sign the bill into law at a White House event on Thursday afternoon.
The holiday marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been made free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
During
the House floor debate, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat,
appeared beside a well-known black-and-white photograph showing a man's back
scarred from whippings during slavery.
She said she had introduced legislation in the House to make Juneteenth a federal holiday "to commemorate the end of chattel slavery, America's original sin, and to bring about celebration".
'Increase awareness'
The House approved the bill on a vote of 415-14. The Senate unanimously passed the bill on Tuesday.
Its success comes a year after the United States was rocked by protests against racism and policing following the murder of African-American man George Floyd, by a Minneapolis police officer.
Republican Representative Guy Reschenthaler touted the role his northern home state of Pennsylvania played in the Civil War.
"Designating June 19 as a national holiday would increase awareness of ... Juneteenth," he said.
He continued:
Texas
officially declared Juneteenth a state holiday in 1980, and since then the
holiday has been officially recognised in most US states.
Juneteenth would be the eleventh federally recognised holiday, joining a list that includes Christmas and New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Independence Day and honouring presidents and slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.