Happy Juneteenth!  Voice of America in “The Story Behind Juneteenth and How It Became a US Federal Holiday” explains the origins of the new federal holiday.

Official White House Photo

In a proclamation issued on the holiday, President Biden stated that

“One of my proudest actions as President has been signing the bipartisan law establishing Juneteenth as the first new Federal holiday since the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday nearly four decades ago.  On this Juneteenth Day of Observance, we commemorate America’s dedication to the cause of freedom. 

On June 19, 1865 — months after the Civil War ended and more than 2 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people — Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to free 250,000 people still held in bondage.  The arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his troops signaled that the Federal Government would not relent until the last enslaved people in America were free.

     On Juneteenth, we commemorate that day and honor the tireless work of abolitionists who made it their mission to deliver the promise of America for all Americans.  We honor the generations of activists who have advanced the need for our Nation to recognize Juneteenth as a way to reconcile our past as we build a new American future together — advocates like former State Representative Al Edwards, who authored the bill that made Texas the first state to designate Juneteenth a holiday, and Ms. Opal Lee, known as the grandmother of Juneteenth, who joined me at the bill signing that finally made it a Federal holiday.”

Suzanne Monyak for Roll Call considers the claims of advocates of Black immigrants of the discrimination against Black immigrants based on race and immigration status. 

KJ