Juneteenth officially a US federal holiday, 156 years after end of civil war
- Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when black people in Galveston, Texas, were notified that slavery had ended
- Under the legislation, the federal holiday would be known as Juneteenth National Independence Day
Most US states recognise Juneteenth as a holiday or commemorate the day, but the bill made June 19 the 12th federal holiday – and the first new one in 38 years.
The date has taken on renewed resonance in recent years with millions of Americans confronting the country’s living legacy of racial injustice.
“This is a day of profound weight and profound power, and to remember the moral stain and the terrible toll that slavery took on the country, and continues to take – what I’ve long called America’s original sin,” Biden said.
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Biden signs Juneteenth bill to create US holiday marking end of slavery
He hailed the country’s “extraordinary capacity to heal and to hope and to emerge from those painful moments and a bitter, bitter version of ourselves”.
The bipartisan measure cleared the Senate by unanimous consent on Tuesday after one Republican in the chamber ended his objection, and the House of Representatives passed it in a 415-14 vote on Wednesday.
