Joe Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth A Federal Holiday

June 17, 2021 by Dan McCue
Joe Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth A Federal Holiday
President Joe Biden signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Washington. From left, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., Opal Lee, Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., obscured, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of S.C., Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president.

The holiday commemorates African Americans’ freedom from slavery, and has long been observed in local and state celebrations.

It was on June 19, 1865 that enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned that they were free, and their first celebration turned into an annual event.

“Today we consecrate Juneteenth for what it ought to be, what it must be, a national holiday,” Biden said in the East Room of the White House.

At the podium, Steve Williams, president of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation.

“This is a day of profound weight and profound power, a day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take,” he added.

A short time later, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management tweeted that most federal employees will observe the new holiday — Juneteenth National Independence Day — on Friday since June 19 falls on a Saturday this year.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan both announced that all state and city government agencies and offices will be closed Friday in honor of Juneteenth.

In Virginia, Juneteenth was made a state holiday last year. Congress approved earlier this week a bill to make Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday.

Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate. (Photo by Dan McCue)

At the ceremony, Biden called for passage of voting rights legislation, expected to come before the Senate next week, and also urged Americans to get vaccinated.

Joining him at the ceremony was Opal Lee, 94, the activist who is known as the “grandmother of the movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.”

He described how, on Juneteenth 1939, when Lee was 12 years old, a white mob torched her family home.

“Such hate never stopped her,” Biden said. “Over the course of decades she has made it her mission to see that this day came.”

Also with Biden as he signed the legislation in the East Room of the White, were members of the House and Senate, including a Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, who co-sponsored the legislation establishing the date as a federal holiday.

The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to send the bill to Biden, while the Senate passed the bill unanimously the day before.

Juneteenth is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.

As he signed the bill into law, Biden noted the overwhelming support for the bill from lawmakers in both parties.

“I hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we deal with one another,” Biden said.

A+
a-
  • Federal holiday
  • Galveston
  • Joe Biden
  • Juneteenth
  • Slavery
  • Texas
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    In The News

    March 18, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    US Judicial Conference Policy Seeks to Limit Judge Shopping

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Judicial Conference announced a policy last week intended to limit "judge shopping" by activists trying to... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Judicial Conference announced a policy last week intended to limit "judge shopping" by activists trying to win rulings by judges likely to be biased in their favor. Allegations of judge shopping have been lodged most commonly against state attorneys general, political activists... Read More

    March 18, 2024
    by TWN Staff
    Senators Propose Legislation to Promote Geothermal Energy

    WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have introduced the bipartisan Geothermal Energy Optimization Act designed to... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have introduced the bipartisan Geothermal Energy Optimization Act designed to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy nationwide. Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. and Mike Lee, R-Utah, proposed the bill, stated... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    New Report Says There’s Biomass Aplenty to Support Future Aviation Fuel Demand

    WASHINGTON — A new analysis from the Department of Energy has found that the United States could sustainably triple its... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A new analysis from the Department of Energy has found that the United States could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons a year — more than enough to satisfy future demand for clean aviation biofuel. The department has... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Senate Told Growing Wildfire Threat Needs New Strategies

    WASHINGTON — The number of wildfires driven by climate change has grown but the U.S. effort to control them has... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The number of wildfires driven by climate change has grown but the U.S. effort to control them has not, according to emergency response officials at a Senate hearing Thursday. At least not fast enough to prevent disasters like the fire that ravaged Maui in... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    DOE to Provide Conditional $2.26B Loan for Lithium Project in Nevada

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy is extending a conditional $2.26 billion loan to Lithium Americas Corp. to support its... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy is extending a conditional $2.26 billion loan to Lithium Americas Corp. to support its effort to build a lithium carbonate processing plant in Nevada. Once operational, the plant, which will be located in Thacker Pass, about 200 miles northeast of... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    EPA Sets Tougher Limits on Gas Used to Sterilize Medical Devices

    WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized tougher restrictions on ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas commonly used to... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized tougher restrictions on ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas commonly used to sterilize medical devices. The new standards specifically target commercial sterilization facilities. The agency called them “the strongest measures in U.S. history to reduce emissions of EtO,”... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top