There is a growing movement afoot to declare June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday.
The date marks the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing former slaves of their freedom provided by the order President Abraham Lincoln issued on Jan. 1, 1863.
Juneteenth has been a state holiday in Texas for 40 years. Over the intervening years, 46 other states adopted similar resolutions — including Pennsylvania.
Opal Lee, 93, of Fort Worth, Texas, has been campaigning for years to have the date made a federal holiday, walking 2.5 miles in cities across the country to symbolize the 2½ years it took for slaves in the deepest South to hear the news that they had been freed.
Lee told The New York Times a mob of white supremacists burned her family’s Fort Worth-area home when she was 12, a move that launched her on a lifetime of teaching and lobbying to have Juneteenth made a national holiday.
Meet Opal Lee, a 93-years-young activist who is walking 2.5 miles in cities across America in her fight to make #Juneteenth a national holiday! pic.twitter.com/Hc9b6oTrYw
— Localish (@localish) June 19, 2020
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly named Juneteenth a state holiday last year.
As Black Lives Matter protests continued in cities and towns across the country, Gov. Tom Wolf declared Friday, the first anniversary of the enactment of Act 9, a paid holiday for state employees.
The Hill reported late Thursday that U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., were expected to introduce resolutions making the date a federal holiday.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he wants the federal government to make Juneteenth a holiday as a way to acknowledge the nation’s history and celebrate its black citizens.
“But commemorating Juneteenth is not a substitute for taking decisive action to protect the lives of black Americans. Recent events in our nation highlight that we have yet to overcome all the vestiges of slavery,” Casey said. “Black Americans continue to be disproportionate victims of hate crimes and police brutality, and the recent murders of George Floyd and others underscore the inadequacy of passivity and the cruel impact that slavery, and much of its aftermath, has had on our country and its citizenry.”
