Juneteenth has been a Holiday since 1866 and adopted by various organizations, municipalities and states since then. It didn't gain nationwide traction however until last year, when after the George Floyd Deaths, people scrambled to find a way to virtue signal how anti-racist they were so for example many corporations decided to offer Holiday pay on Juneteenth and other people decided to throw up celebratory posts on social media or whatever. It was all very powerful and moving or whatever.
And now it's a Federal Holiday thanks to a Bipartisan Vote of Congress.
www.bbc.com
The Senate passed the bill Unanimously while it passed the House with a vote of 415-14. Joe Biden then signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act which elevated the day to the status of a National Holiday. It is the eleventh Federal Holiday and the first one created after Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
For historical context, June 19th 1865 is when Union Army General Gordon Granger issued General Order Number 3 which proclaimed the freedom of slaves within the State of Texas, the final State to be recaptured by the Union forces and bringing an end to the American Civil War. It's seen as a symbolic ending of slavery in the United States and an end of the American Civil War properly though slavery wasn't officially abolished everywhere until December of 1865. Juneteenth started becoming a celebrated Holiday starting the very next year.
And now it's a Federal Holiday thanks to a Bipartisan Vote of Congress.
Juneteenth: US to add federal holiday marking end of slavery
Democrats said it would commemorate "America's original sin", but critics call it "identity politics".
www.bbc.com
The Senate passed the bill Unanimously while it passed the House with a vote of 415-14. Joe Biden then signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act which elevated the day to the status of a National Holiday. It is the eleventh Federal Holiday and the first one created after Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
For historical context, June 19th 1865 is when Union Army General Gordon Granger issued General Order Number 3 which proclaimed the freedom of slaves within the State of Texas, the final State to be recaptured by the Union forces and bringing an end to the American Civil War. It's seen as a symbolic ending of slavery in the United States and an end of the American Civil War properly though slavery wasn't officially abolished everywhere until December of 1865. Juneteenth started becoming a celebrated Holiday starting the very next year.
